List of Things I Have Never Done
by simplexdreams
Summary: Skylar Adella Harrison. She is a girl who can do no wrong. She's sophisticated, smart and rather stubborn. But she has never stood up for herself. In fact, there is a long list of things Skylar has never done. But Fred and George Weasley are determined to change that.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.**

**AN: This prologue is very very short but this is will hopefully make people more excited for the next chapter to be published. I'm really excited for this Fanfiction because I have a _lot_ planned and because it is such a different story to Vulnerability it makes it all that more exciting for me!**

**First thing's first: This is set in the twins and Skylar's seventh year.**

**Enjoy this little preview so List of Things I Have Never Done - Chapter Two will be posted tomorrow - please review and tell me what you think about the list and the idea so far!**

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_**List of Things I Have Never Done by Skylar Adella Harrison.**_

_1. Rode a broom _– She could quite literally break her neck and die.  
_2. Received a detention –_ She has never done any wrong and she wouldn't want to.  
_3. Got drunk_ – She could do something crazy or hurt herself.  
_4. Said anything bad to about someone directly to their face_. – She wouldn't want to hurt anybody, that's just… cruel!  
5. _Lost my temper._ – She wouldn't want to say anything she didn't mean when she was angry. That was her brother's job.  
_6. Handed in my homework late._ – It could be important! It could seriously affect her reference!  
_7. Missed a lesson. _– It could come up in an exam, like the time when she was sick during Potions and she missed Calming Draughts.  
_8. Had a boyfriend_. – Boys take up too much time and would most probably distract her!  
_9. Kissed a boy_. – She could be bad at kissing. She could be called Saliva Girl or something if she did it wrong.  
_10. Had sex__. – wait scratch that- Been out after curfew. – _That one is sort of self-explanatory.

She should have known from the second that Fred and George Weasley waltzed so courageously into her life that they would be the ones to tick each and every thing off her list as easily as slipping dung into Filch's office.


	2. Paper Airplanes

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.**

**AN: The feedback I got from the prologue made me really excited to post this chapter - the support I've already gotten makes me really happy and I fully appreciate it!**

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Her wide, ocean blue eyes watched as a paper airplane flew around the charms classroom, distracting her temporarily from my work. Skylar Harrison watched as the airplane soared lower and lower until it hit Professor Flitwick squarely between the eyes and a loud chorus of laughter came from the other side of the laughter.

Turning to her left she saw, as she knew she would, Fred and George Weasley laughing loudly. Fred and George Weasley were twins, a pair notorious troublemakers. Both were tall, both rather muscular as they were both Beaters. Their eyes were a soft brown that seemed to sparkle in an intriguing sort of way. Their hair was bright red that hung messily across their foreheads and they always seemed to have the air of being up to something, mischievous. They were impossible to tell apart, even their freckles were identical. Though over the seven years Skylar had known Fred and George she had realised only very little differences between them, a) George had a small scar above his lip, b) Fred was more daring, though not by much, c) George was better at Herbology d) Fred was better at Transfiguration e) (though this may not even be true) apparently, as Fred insisted, Fred had a tattoo of a Chimaera on his back.

Skylar had to reframe from rolling her eyes at the twins as she returned to her work. Skylar, with her long brown, naturally thick and messy curls, eyes as blue as the deepest ocean and freckles splashed across her nose, was the type of student who could do no wrong. Many of her fellow classmates always asked why she wasn't in Ravenclaw; she was top in every class and Skylar herself did question it. She was a Gryffindor, though she had no way she had been placed there, she had not done anything remotely chivalrous in her life, unless you could count avoiding deception as being chivalrous. If the sorting hat had placed her in Ravenclaw she doubted that she would have got along with any of them. The seventh year Ravenclaws were undoubtedly cold to her, but maybe that was because she had more Outstanding's in her O.W.L.s than any other Ravenclaw.

Charms, was one of Skylar's favourite classes. She sat with her two best friends, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson at the very front of the class. Today, they were practising Cleaning Charms and Alicia seemed to be having rather a lot of fun in tipping over the waste paper basket and waiting for Angelina or Skylar to clean it up with a flick of their wands.

"Fred and George are annoying Flitwick again I see," said Angelina, casting a look over to where the Weasley twins were now being given their third detention of the day.

"They already have three detentions and it is no even break yet," said Skylar. "A detention with Snape for turning Malfoy's hair pink, a detention from Umbridge for transfiguring her bow into maggots and now one from Flitwick for hitting him with a paper airplane, I honestly can't fathom how they have time to serve all those detentions _and_ make those sweets they sell in the common room!"

"Yeah," said Angelina, frowning. "And somehow they still have time for Quidditch training as well,"

"How is Quidditch practise coming along?" Skylar asked, turning her attention back to mess on the floor made by the paper waste basket and flicking her wand so that the mess immediately jumped back into the bin. "Is their brother Ron any good as a Keeper?"

"Well…" Alicia began, tipping the basket over again. "He is good when he's on form but–"

"–he has a really big problem with nerves," cut in Angelina. "Honestly, I would think that you would be better on a broom!"

"I've never flown one before," muttered Skylar, embarrassed.

This was another thing about Skylar, for want of a better word, she was a good girl and there was no other way to describe her. She had never done anything wrong in her entire life, she had never gotten into trouble (unless you could count the time that she had broken her young brother's toy plane out of pure jealously and her father had sent her to her room for twenty minutes), she never handed in her homework late, never lost her temper, never drunk even a sip of Firewhiskey, never got less than anything an Exceeds Expectations on an exam, and, although she would not admit it to anybody but Alicia and Angelina, she had never had a boyfriend or even kissed a boy.

"We should take you flying one day!" said Alicia brightly. "It would be really fun and–"

"No!" Skylar said quickly, looking flustered. "I-I would probably fall off and break my neck or something…"

"There's no point in trying to convince her Alicia," said Angelina sharply. "I've tried countless of times, even Madam Hooch couldn't get her on one of the school brooms because Sky had–"

"A nervous breakdown yeah," Skylar said quietly. "I remember – I've been called Cry Baby ever since then."

"Flitwick," muttered Angelina as she flicked her wand so that the mess would once again fly back into the basket.

"Well done Angelina well done!" Professor Flitwick squeaked and Angelina grinned as the bell rang to signal the end of lesson.

After Charms, Skylar had a free period, which was a rare occasion as her timetable was so full. As Angelina dragged Alicia to the Gryffindor common room to talk Quidditch tactics, Skylar made her way to one of the courtyards and sat down on a bench and pulled out her copy of _The Advanced Arithmancer's Handbook_ and began to read quietly.

Barely a minute after she began reading the book was snatched from her hands.

"Hey!" She squeaked getting to her feet, her eyes darting upwards and widening as she was meet with what looked like all of the Slytherin seventh years.

"Why hello Cry Baby," said Malcom Grimstone, who was standing right in front of her and holding her book in his fat hands.

"Can I have my book back please?" Skylar mumbled, looking down at her feet and feeling incredibly small.

"Oh?" shrieked Lisette Sedai, "Is this your book?"

"Yes," Skylar said quietly, still not looking at them.

"What was that?" said Malcom, "I can't hear over, speak louder Cry Baby!"

"I said, yes!" Skylar squeaked and the Slytherin girls cackled wickedly, making Skylar's bottom lip quiver as she looked up at them.

"Aw!" cooed Teresa Dolohov. "Is Cry Baby going to cry?"

Skylar scowled and shook her head quickly, "No!" she mumbled. "Can I just please have my book back?"

By now each of the Slytherins surrounding her was laughing at how she whimpered, looking like a deer trapped in headlights. Skylar stood there, feeling embarrassed and ashamed that she was in fact on the verge of tears. The worst thing about it was that, although she did not like it, Skylar was used to the Slytherins torments and their jibbing. She knew it was best to be polite and most importantly of all, not to cry in front of them.

"You want your book back?" Malcom said menacingly. "Jump for it!"

Skylar's face flushed a violent shade of tomato red as the Slytherins began to laugh even harder. "No, can I just get my book back–"

"Don't you understand English Harrison? Jump for you book," Lisette sneered at Skylar, who felt completely inferior to them.

Feeling as though she would rather have melted into the grass beneath her, she began to jump for her book that was being dangled high in the air in Malcom's hands.

"She's actually jumping!" Jessica Pinder yelled, as the Slytherins began to chant, Jump Cry Baby, Jump!

"Can I have my book back please?" Skylar pleaded as she jumped for her book, but Malcom's arm was too high up in the air.

"Let me think about that," Malcom said in a drooling voice, "No."

_They're just trying to make you cry, don't_, Skylar told herself as she felt her eyes sting as she began to jump for her book again. But suddenly as she jumped for her book, somebody grabbed her bag from the bench she had been sitting on.

"Oh look what we have here," said Lisette, pulling out all of Skylar's books, tossing them onto the floor, along with her quills and ink bottles, which smashed to the ground and spattered ink all over the bottom of Skylar's robes, "Oops."

"Oi! Grimstone!"

Angelina Johnson, her face contorted with rage and her wand raised, was running across the courtyard over to the scene, and closely behind her were Alicia, Katie Bell, and the last two people that Skylar would ever imagine standing up for her, Fred and George Weasley. It wasn't that she thought Fred and George would stand back and let it happen, she and the twins were friends, but she would never imagine that they would ever willingly come to her aid.

"Alright Johnson," said Malcom. "Come here to watch Cry Baby jump for her books have you?"

"No actually," said Angelina through gritted teeth, "I've come to curse you–"

"Can I just have my book back please?" Skylar said in a much louder voice now.

Malcom's attention turned back to her and his face inches away from hers so that she could smell his retched breath. "I told you, Cry Baby, jump for it–"

Suddenly Malcom's face blanched before his skin turned completely green, his eyes moved around madly in their sockets, his legs began to dance about madly and no less than ten tentacles grew on his face. Alarmed, Skylar jumped backwards as Malcom came crashing to the floor, his legs still dancing about madly.

"Right," said George, looking rather proud of himself as he peered round at the remaining Slytherins. "Any other Slytherins want to be hexed?"

The Slytherins all began to scarper; leaving Skylar standing beside the dancing hermit crab that was Malcom Grimstone.

"Thanks," Skylar said to the group as they approached, she leaned down and grabbed her bag that Lisette had dropped and began to collect all of her discarded books and quills and repaired her, now empty, ink bottles, wiping her wet eyes on the sleeve of her robes as she did so, so that they couldn't see her.

"You should hex them next time Sky," Alicia said in a soft voice. "You could probably hex them until they're just a pair of shoes on the ground," This made Skylar laugh but she didn't reply. She didn't want to hex them, not because she didn't want to stand up for herself because she did, but because if she did she would get into a lot of trouble. The Slytherins had all probably ran to tell Snape what Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Fred and George had all done right now.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "But it would be ten against one and half of them have Death Eaters for parents,"

"It's fine Sky," said Angelina. "But I swear the day that we graduate I will send them a nice bouquet of Devil's Snare."

This too made Skylar laugh, but she stopped, "You are joking right?"

"Oh Sky," said Katie, "She's being sarcastic,"

"I know," she replied. "I was just checking because with Angelina you never really know do you?"

"Very true," said George. "I wouldn't put it past her."

At that very moment, Malcom let out a noise that sounded like a whale and the group turned to look at him, his legs still dancing about feebly. "What in the name of Merlin did you lot do to him by the way?"

"I have no idea," said Fred. "I cast the Jelly Legs jinx,"

"Merlin only knows what happened to his face though," said George, looking down at Malcom with what George clearly thought was a sympathetic look, but was more of a satisfied grimace.

"We should go before Snape or Umbridge get here," said Skylar. "I have go Transfiguration anyhow,"

"Right," said Angelina. "Then let's go."

With that, the two girls began to walk down the passage that led away from the courtyard.

"Hold up once second Skylar!"

She turned to see Fred and George skipping, yes merrily skipping, towards the two of them.

"What do you two want with her?" Angelina asked skeptically.

"Relax Angie–" said Fred and Angelina scowled, she hated that nickname, "–we just wanted to return Skylar's book that Malcom stole from her."

George handed the book to her, and she stared sadly at the now very muddy cover. "Thanks," she said softly, trying to rub the mud off with the sleeve of her robes.

"Here," said George, pointing his wand at her Arithmancy book and said, "Scourgify!" The mud disappeared and she smiled gratefully up at the redheaded boy.

"Thanks."

"We should really clean the bottom of your robes as well," said Fred, his wand pointing at the bottom of her robes and giving it a complicated flick and the mud disappeared, "Ruddy Slytherins."

"You know Alicia's right," Angelina said as she tapped her wand on her head so that her dark brown hair turned suddenly blonde. Professor McGonagall nodded curtly, showing her approval before turning to Lee. "You should really hex those Slytherins next time they do anything to you."

Skylar hummed in response as she tapped too her head, her hair turning a dark purple. "I could get into trouble though, and I really don't want to hurt anybody–"

"When are you going to stand up for yourself Sky?" Angelina snapped suddenly. Skylar looked at her guiltily before shrugging her shoulders and tapping her wand on her head once again, her hair turning back to brown.

Angelina surveyed her sad eyes for a moment, before she too turned her hair its natural dark brown with a flick of her wand.

"I'm sorry Angelina," Skylar exclaimed. "It's not exactly like I don't want to stand up for myself – because I do – I just…" She didn't know exactly how to convey to Angelina here reasons for not standing up for herself. "…I'm used to what they do to me Angelina."

"I know _that_, even though you really shouldn't be used to it," Angelina said. "You're scared to stand up for yourself and I understand that. I'm only saying this out of concern. What if one day myself or Alicia aren't there to hex them and they do something really horrible?" Skylar did not want to answer. "I'm just saying that one day you're going to have to be _do _something about it."

Skylar smiled at Angelina and she turned back to the mirror in front of her and whispered in an undertone, "I'm not looking forward to that day."

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**So that's the first chapter! How did I do? Did you guys like it? Please tell me what you think, any ideas you may have and in answer these few questions in your review:**

**1. Do you feel sorry for Skylar?  
2. Should she stand up for herself? Or not?  
3. Do you think that Fred has a tattoo of a Chimaera on his back? Or is he just bluffing?**

**REVIEW!**


	3. The Deal

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.**

**AN: I am really sorry about how long it has taken to update this story, I have been incredibly busy.**

**I'm really happy about all the feedback I have been getting already from this story, I have so many ideas and I would love to hear some of yours if you have any. Keep up those lovely reviews!**

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"Fred! George! Will you pay attention?" Angelina snapped at the twins one night when the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team, and Skylar, were sitting around a table in comfy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room. The team talking over Angelina's intense tactics and Skylar was reading _A History of Magic_. She looked up from her book to see Fred grinning and George, who had turned into a canary.

Skylar rolled her eyes and continued to read her book as Angelina shouted at the twins and Harry, Katie and Alicia all roared with laughter.

"Not even a smile from Skylar I see," said George, whose feathers were beginning to moult.

Without looking up from her book, Skylar said vaguely, "Interesting use of Transfiguration."

"Yes, yes, it's all very ingenious," said Angelina impatiently, "but can we get back to tactics!"

"You're beginning to sound a lot like Oliver," muttered George and Angelina's nostrils flared angrily, "or worse my mother."

"George Weasley if you don't listen to me this very second, I will kick you off the team and Skylar can take your place!"

"You wouldn't–" said George, his brown eyes wide.

"Oh yes I would!" challenged Angelina.

"She wouldn't," Skylar said airily, turning a page of her book, "I've never rode a broom before and wanting me on the Quidditch team is something that she would never think–"

"Wait, hold up," said Fred, sharing a painful look like George.

"For the love of Merlin," muttered Angelina.

"You've never–" said George.

"–rode a broom?" said Fred and Skylar shook her head as Fred, George and Harry all looked at her as if she had just deeply offended them.

"Sorry," she muttered, immersing herself in her book as Angelina stirred the conversation back to tactics.

Skylar was only half listening as Angelina droned on and on about diversionary tactics, the words went in through one ear and out the other as she read a page on witch burnings.

"Fred!" Angelina suddenly bellowed and Skylar jumped in her seat. She looked up, expecting to see one of the twins as a large canary, but instead Skylar saw Fred levitating a small black cat– wait that was Wilfred! Skylar's cat!

"Fred!" Skylar jumped to her feet as Fred used his wand bring to Wilfred to his lap.

"Winnie is adorable," Fred cooed as Wilfred purred and rolled about happily on Fred's lap. Skylar stared from her cat to Fred, since when did Wilfred like him? She didn't know whether to feel confused or betrayed by her cat. "I gave him a nickname, Sky, hope you don't mind,"

"I give up!" Angelina surrendered, throwing her arms up into the air and upsetting several parchments with drawings of Quidditch pitches on.

"Since when were you and my cat all chummy?" Skylar asked Fred as Angelina stormed off, followed by Katie Bell and Alicia, and Harry and Ron moved away to join their friend, Hermione Granger who was busying studying beside the fire.

"We've always been good friends with good 'old Winnie over here," said George, starching Wilfred behind the ears so that he purred more loudly and closed his stunning blue eyes.

"I find that incredibly hard to believe," Skylar muttered as somebody tapped her shoulder.

"Hey Sky!"

It was her young brother, Lewis. Lewis looked nothing liked Skylar; well that was what she thought. They shared the same brown, curly hair that they had both inherited from their father and they had the same freckles splashed over their nose. His eyes however weren't a deep blue like hers; Lewis' were a golden hazel. Also, unlike Skylar, she thought that Lewis belonged in Gryffindor. He was everything a real Gryffindor should be, bold, daring and brave, as he wasn't afraid to let down their parents, in fact he did it regularly and with gusto.

"What is it Lewis?" Skylar asked, her eyes tearing away from her cat, whom now curling up on Fred's lap, to her brother. Skylar had never really gotten on well with Lewis, for his age he had always been brutally cynical.

"Can you do my Divination homework for me?"

"Lewis, I've never done Divination," Skylar told him and Lewis groaned. "Besides, you should do your own homework."

"You did that Slytherin's homework yesterday!" Lewis added and Skylar's face flushed. She didn't exactly have a choice to do Lisette's Potions homework yesterday as Lisette had threatened to report to Umbridge on what Angelina, Alicia and the twins had done to Malcom. So her, being the coward she was, gave in and spent most of her evening writing about Polyjuice Potions.

"I'm sorry but that's none of your business Lewis," she said in a small voice, "just make something up and make it dramatic, Professor Trelawney will love it."

Lewis sent her a resentful look before he walked towards the boys' dormitories.

"What do you mean you were doing a Slytherin's homework yesterday?" George asked.

"I-I-erm," she faltered slightly under the twins gaze. "I just did Lisette's homework–"

"What? Why would you do that?" George asked her, looking at her with a suspicious look on his face.

"I-I did it so that you wouldn't get into trouble," Skylar replied shortly and got to her feet. "She was going to report you to Umbridge and I didn't want you to get into trouble because of me,"

Fred and George stared at one another before they broke into fits of loud, raucous laughter. Skylar frowned at them before she grabbed her bag and her History of Magic textbook, stole one last glance at Wilfred who was showing no signs of moving from Fred's lap, and walked towards the girl's dormitories.

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"_Cry Baby_!"

The torments followed her all day. It seemed as though the Slytherins had somehow managed to spread around the entire castle that Skylar had cried the other day when Malcom Grimstone had stolen her Arithmancy book. Nearly every Slytherin she passed had called her that name when she passed. By her last lesson, Defence Against the Dark Arts, she was on the verge of tears again.

Her eyes swam with tears as she stared determinedly at her copy of Defensive Magical Theory, re-reading the first page of chapter seven at least ten times. Her hair hung over her face so that Angelina would not see the tears in her eyes.

"Cry Baby," Lisette giggled from behind her and Skylar's face flushed deeply.

"Now," said Professor Umbridge's simpering voice, "Please pack up your books and I'll see you next lesson."

"Bye Professor Umbridge," the class droned as they hastily packed their books and left the classroom as the bell rang.

Skylar left the classroom alongside Angelina and Alicia, who were talking angrily about Umbridge's Ministry-approved curriculum, which Skylar would have normally joined in, but as the whispers of 'Cry Baby' reached her ears, she remained silent and walked quietly.

"Skylar!"

She turned to see Fred and George running up along the corridor towards her and she hastily wiped her eyes.

"What are you two planning?" Angelina asked suspiciously when Fred and George had reached them.

"Nothing," George said, grabbing one of Skylar's arms as Fred grabbed the other.

"Yeah Angie–" Angelina scowled at Fred, "–We just want to talk to Sky."

Angelina looked as though she wanted to say something, but Skylar intervened, "its fine Angelina, I'll see you at dinner."

Fred and George marched, with their arms still linked around Skylar's, all the way up to Gryffindor tower. "Mimbulus mimbletonia," said George and the Fat Lady swung open to reveal the portrait hole, which Fred and George pushed Skylar through.

"You two aren't planning to use me as a test subject for any Skiving Snackboxes are you?" she asked them, sitting down on the loveseat in front of the fire, Fred and George sitting either side of her.

"No," said Fred.

"Though if you're interested our Fainting Fancies need more market research–" said George.

"I'd rather not," said Skylar, "what do you two want exactly?"

"Well," said Fred, "we have noticed that, to put it most simply, you appear to be a victim of bullying."

"What?" Skylar's face turned the brightest shade of red and she looked from Fred, to George and back, "I-I'm not! I-I-I can deal with it!"

"Really?" said George, not at all convinced. "because, unless my eyes deceive me, I could see you holding back tears in last lesson and I don't think it was because of Umbridge's Ministry-approved curriculum."

Skylar shifted in her seat under their gaze and stared down at her hands and sighed. "You're not going to call me Cry Baby are you?" She whispered, her eyes focused on the dancing flames.

"No," Fred shook his head. "But we think we have found a solution to your problems with the slimy Slytherins!"

"And that would be?" She asked skeptically, looking at Fred, her eyebrows raised.

"Loosen up a little!" exclaimed George and Skylar jumped, now looking at George instead of Fred. She looked at him, a disbelieving look on her face, and he continued. "Well, we think that the Slytherins only pick on you because they know that whatever they do, you won't hex them, or jinx them or curse them, like they know Angelina would do,"

"I just don't want to get into trouble," Skylar admitted quietly, "If I was kicked out of Hogwarts for cursing someone because they called me a name–"

"We've blown up toilet seats, put cat litter in McGonagall's office, stolen plenty of things from Flitch's office and let me assure you we are at no risk of being kicked out," said George encouragingly and Skylar snorted in disbelief that the Weasley twins were in no risk of being kicked out of school. "The worst you would get for that is probably a cold look from our loving Head of House."

"But she likes me!" exclaimed Skylar. "And she's writing my reference and if I ever want to get a job then I wouldn't want them to know that I hexed somebody because they called me Cry Baby,"

"We're going off at a bit of a tangent," said Fred, "but you won't get into a lot of trouble for standing up for yourself, and anyway it is good for you. You can't go around your entire life letting people knock you down."

Skylar dropped her gaze from Fred's face and looked at her hands. She hated to admit it, but Fred Weasley was right. Did she even imagine for one moment that as soon as she left school that there would be no more people who could bully her, humiliate her, that they would all just disappear? That people would magically become nicer?

"What exactly do you mean by 'loosen up' then?" She asked and the twins grinned at each other as Wilfred came out of nowhere and jumped onto Skylar's lap and snuggled against her arm.

"Well, first thing's first," said Fred, clapping his hands together as George produced parchment, ink and a quill from his bag. "Write down ten things you have never done before."

"This is silly," said Skylar, looking down at the piece of parchment that George had shoved into her hands as she starched Wilfred's ear.

"It will make you feel better," said Fred, "and we won't laugh at you!"

"We already know that you have never ridden a broom before so, I'll write that one down first…" George began to write and Skylar could see the words upside down.

_**List of Things I Have Never Done**_**.**

_1. Rode a broom_

"What else have you never done before?" asked Fred, looking at Skylar thoughtfully.

"Well – erm," she didn't exactly want to tell that she had never been kissed, they would probably embarrass her, or that she had never in fact even had a boyfriend in her whole seventeen years of being alive.

"Have you ever had a detention before?" asked George and Skylar shook her head slowly and George's hand scribbled away on the piece of parchment.

_2. Received a detention._

"This isn't making me feel better," said Skylar but Fred hushed her.

"Have you ever drunk any alcoholic beverages?" Skylar shook her head, "Not even Butterbeer?" and she shook her head again.

_3. Got drunk._

"I've never bad mouthed anyone to their face," said Skylar.

_4. Said anything bad about someone directly to their face._

"Have you ever said a bad word?" asked Fred, who looked as though he was thoroughly enjoying this interrogation. This time however, Skylar did nod and both Fred and George gasped. "Scandalous."

_5. Lost my temper._

_6. Handed my homework late._

_7. Missed a lesson. _

"Let's dig a little deeper," said George, "have you… ever had a serious boyfriend?"

At this, Wilfred gave a soft 'meow'.

"What?" she spluttered, her cheeks flushing again, "Y-Yeah of course I have!" By the look from Fred and George's faces however, they did not believe her. She sighed. "No I've never even had a boyfriend,"

Wilfred meowed again.

"Really?" said Fred. "Have you ever… kissed somebody?" The flush on Skylar's cheeks was enough of a giveaway, but instead of falling into uncontrollable laughter like she was expecting, they let out a loud 'aw!'.

"That's so cute and innocent!" said George, looking at his brother gleefully.

"Our favourite kind of person! The innocent!"

"So easy to corrupt–"

"Please don't tell anyone," she pleaded, her eyes as round as Galleons. "I don't want to be given another nickname!"

"We won't tell anybody," said George, suddenly serious, "I mean, we're doing this list to help you… so I wager that you've never had a sexual experience before either?"

At this, Skylar seemed to choke on thin air. She gasped and looked at George as though he had struck her.

"She is so innocent it's adorable!" Fred said, squeezing her rosy cheeks between his hands, "Sexless Skylar–"

"Fred!" She exclaimed, slapping a hand over his mouth and staring widely about the Gryffindor common room, although they were completely alone as everyone else was at dinner. She removed her head and looked back down at the list to see the three other numbers that George had written down.

_8. Had a boyfriend._

_9. Kissed a boy._

_10. Had sex._

"So…" she said, embarrassed, "how does this list help me loosen up exactly?"

"Isn't it obvious?" said George, banishing the list in her face, "we're going to help you tick off each and every single one of these points by the end of the school year!" He said simply.

Wilfred stretched on Skylar's lap and jumped off.

Skylar's eyes widened. She stared at George for a moment before back at the list and thinking about how each and every single one of these points could have catastrophic effects.

For starters, number one was obvious, she could fall two hundred feet from the air and break a bone, or worse die. Number two, she couldn't face the disappoint from her parents for being so irresponsible and even the disappointment of Professor McGonagall, who Skylar tried so hard to impress. Number three, well that was also obvious, she could get so drunk that she ended up hurting herself or doing something ridiculous like change her name to Peaches Poodlepuddles or something stupid. Number four, not only could she really hurt somebody's feelings but it would get Skylar too into trouble, they could tell a teacher or even hit her with a spell or even worse, actually hit her! Number five, she could too really hurt someone by losing her temper, she could say things she didn't mean or break something that was priceless. Number six, it could affect her reference and interfere with her revision timetable and add her to stress. Number seven, she couldn't miss a lesson! What if something important came up that was going to be in her exams? She wouldn't dream of missing a single lesson, whatever the circumstances.

And finally there was number eight, nine and ten. Number eight for starters, wasn't exactly going to be a walk in the park. Boyfriends were hard work, she knew this from the amount of times that Angelina, Alicia and Katie had vented to her about how confusing, aggravating and how impossible boys are. And there was also the fact that boyfriends took away time and focus from schoolwork. Number nine was just a case of her nerves; what if she did it wrong and the poor guy hated her or told everyone at school about how much of a bad kisser she was and then suddenly she had a new nickname like – Salvia Girl – or something. And number ten, terrified her the most. Sex to her seemed to terrify her, there was the issue that first time, it was inevitably going to hurt, but also to trust somebody so much to see you completely naked and vulnerable scared her almost as much as letting her parents down did. And what if, like number nine, she was bad at it or did something embarrassing like accidently hit the guy or something. And what if she had sex with the wrong guy and it turned out to be the worst decision of her life?

"I… I… I don't really about this guys," she said, biting her bottom lip softly with her teeth as she looked from the list to back up at them. "I mean the last three are a bit…"

"Personal?" said George. "We realise that asking you to lose your virginity by the end of the year is an insult to a girl who respects herself, but that one we will worry about after we have ticked off all the others."

"Can't we change the last one to something else?" she asked, feeling embarrassed.

"Yeah," said George brightly. "Let's see…" he said, looking around the common room for inspiration.

"Have you…" Fred hummed as he thought for a moment or two, before saying, "How about… have you ever been out past curfew?" Phoenix shook her head and George scribbled out the previous number ten and replaced it with the new one:

_10. Had sex__. – wait starch that – Been out after curfew._

Skylar gulped, looking back down at the completed list, "But what if I do something stupid when I'm drunk?" she squeaked. "Or if I'm bad at kissing or something?"

"You won't be bad a kissing," said Fred.

"Yeah," said George brightly. "We'll teach you how to snog. Lee would probably be happy to give you a snog and Fred and I are happy for you to use our services."

"Lee would be happy to kiss anything," said Skylar. "Even a Blast-Ended Skrewt." Fred and George both roared with laughter at this and Skylar managed to smile and join in their laughter.

"See, that is the girl we aim for you to be," said Fred fondly.

"More carefree," said George.

"And what is in it for me?" said Skylar.

"Well, getting the Slytherins off your back for one," said Fred.

"I feel like this is more for your entertainment though," she said uncertainly, "like you're just doing to so I can make a fool of myself…"

"We may be pranksters my dear Skylar," said George, "but we would never prank a fellow Gryffindor."

"Unless it's one of our family members," said Fred.

"Okay," she sighed and Fred and George beamed at her, "I'll do this ruddy list then."

"That's the ticket!" said George, "now let's all shake on it."

They all shook hands over the list, which George had tapped with his wand to make the word invisible to anybody but them, he rolled it up and stuffed it into the bottom of his bag. And together, the three of them made their way to the Great Hall for dinner.

**Do you think Skylar will finish the list?**

**Which one will she do first? Which one will she refuse to do at all?**

**Which are you most excited for her to do? Any ideas?**

**REVIEW!**


	4. Stupid, Stupid List

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.**

**AN: I loved reading the reviews for last chapter, they were brilliant. Here is chapter four, finally! I wrote and re-wrote this chapter a number of times because I kept changing my mind. Enjoy this chapter you guys!**

* * *

Over the next few days Skylar had avoided Fred and George. The more she thought about it, the more she realised how completely stupid she had been to agree with them over that stupid list and she hoped that by ignoring them, they would forget about it or give her up as a bad job. They continued with their shenanigans, the pranks they had pulled in barely six days were outstanding. They had somehow managed to tie Mrs. Norris to one of the school's broomstick and sent her racing around the Astronomy Tower for a good half hour before Professor McGonagall could get her down. Then they transfigured several of the Slytherin's breakfast into maggots (which had caused which a ruckus) _and_ then charmed Alicia Spinnet's shoes so that they wheeled about for an entire Charms lesson.

Skylar was immersed in her Alchemy spell book, _Alchemy: Book of Shadows. _ Skylar had been one of the very few students who had been chosen for the subject, the other students were mostly Ravenclaws but it was one of her favourite lessons. The library was quiet as it was a Saturday and most of the castle's occupants were enjoying lunch in the Great Hall. That was until…

"So _then _I told him that I would give her homework to Professor Snape," said Malcom Grimstone's cold and malicious voice from behind the bookshelf that Skylar was sitting behind.

She froze in her spot, not daring to make a sound.

"And did you give Snape his essay?" Lisette asked as their voices became louder and louder every step they took.

"No!" Malcom said laughing and his laughter was echoed by his friends.

Skylar was wishing upon her wand that Malcom, Lisette or any other of the Slytherins who followed them around would not notice her, but…

"Cry Baby! What a pleasant surprise!"

The Alchemy book was ripped from her hands. Skylar was rather unimpressed by his complete lack of originality when it came to tormenting her, tacking away her books was becoming rather old.

"What do you want?" Skylar asked in a bored voice.

Malcom's cold icy eyes narrowed as he looked from her face to her book.

"Now what do we have here?" His thin lips grew into a wide and unpleasant smile as he skimmed through the pages of the book. "Alchemy… how _very_ interesting…" His tone made her feel uneasy and her eyes flickered around to the rest of the Slytherins. "Do you mind if I borrow a few pages?" And he began to tear page after page out of her book.

"Don't!" She squealed as she jumped to her feet and tried to prise her book from Malcom's hands, but Lisette and Teresa had grabbed her arms and held her back.

"This is really interesting," Malcom continued to rip the pages from her book, smiling wickedly.

"Please!" Skylar squeaked, feeling completely and utterly embarrassed by the situation. It was times like this that she questioned why she was even in Gryffindor. Surely she would just stand up for herself? She felt her eyes begin to fill with tears and Malcom grabbed her bag and pulled out several more books and she prayed that Madam Pince would at least put a stop to this, but the vulture-like Liberian was nowhere to be seen. "Don't Malcom, please!"

"She's crying!" Lisette shrieked gleefully. "Look at her blubber!"

"I'll do anything!" Skylar begged. "Please don't!"

"She's actually begging Malcom," Adriano Morrigan laughed derisively.

"You'll do _anything_?" Malcom asked and his icy eyes seemed to darken as Skylar nodded without hesitation. "_Anything_?" He dropped her book on the floor and before she could grab it, Malcom's hand enclosed itself around her wrist and pulled her towards him so that they were face-to-face.

"_Anything_?" He said in a voice so sinister that is chilled her bones.

"Hey! Grim Face!"

Malcom turned just as two flashes of blue light hit him directly in the face.

Skylar screamed and jumped back several feet as several large centipedes snorted out of Malcom's nose and landed on the floor.

Fred and George Weasley roared with laughter as Malcom continued to spontaneously snort out centipedes from his nose, the other Slytherins all shouted and screamed and ran from the library. Malcom, still snorting centipedes, followed suit.

Skylar stared disgustedly at the centipedes as they crawled over her ripped up textbook, her heart still racing from the shock of what had just happened.

"What the ruddy hell was _that_?" She breathed as the twins strutted towards her, twiddling their wands in their hands.

"Well, being the inventors we are," said George as he gave his wand a complicated little flick as the centipedes disappeared in a wisp of bluish smoke.

"We invented a new spell," said Fred airily. "We needed somebody to practise on and Grim Face fits the agenda for being the first victim of what we call the Centipede Hex."

Skylar nodded and wiped her cheeks, which were still wet with the tears she had shed. She kneeled on the floor and began to gather her books, not wanting them to bring up the subject of that stupid list. George also kneeled down, picking up her now demolished Alchemy textbook.

"Did he do this?" George asked.

"No," Skylar said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I enjoy wrecking my own possessions." George raised an eyebrow at her and she shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry…" She murmured, grabbing the ripped pages from her book and staring at them as though they had morally offended her.

"This is _exactly_ why we pursued this list in the first place!" said Fred; he too was on his knees and helping Skylar gather up the ripped pieces of paper.

"I've been thinking–"

"No, no, no Miss Harrison–" said Fred, waggling his finger at her.

"Don't you back out now," said George.

She flushed red and busied herself with stacking the pages of her book. "I'm not backing out!"

"Oh really?" George's eyebrow rose. Skylar stared back at him testily; George stared back with equal determination.

"Okay maybe I've been thinking about backing out," she admitted, looking away from George and trying desperately to find her spare roll of spello-tape in her bag.

"You can't back out!" Fred said as George pulled from his pocket, the familiar list that Phoenix had so regretted. "This list will put a stop to all this,"

"How?" Skylar asked, she had given up searching for her spello-tape and was now forced to look up at the twins, who both looked very disappointed, "How is getting drunk or being kissed supposed to make the Slytherins stop pestering me? Where is the logic in that?"

"That is for us to know and for you to find out," George said broodily, picking up her wrecked Alchemy book and the pages that Malcom had ripped up and tapping them both with his wand so that the pages shuffled around in order and sealed itself to the spine of the book. He stuffed it, rather unceremoniously, back into her bag.

"But I don't–"

"Come on Sky," said Fred in an encouraging sort of voice, giving her shoulder a nudge as they all got to their feet, "Aren't you tired of being pushed around?"

Under their gazes, Skylar hesitated. "I'm used to it," she said in forced sort of voice.

George gave her a sympathetic look; he clapped a hand on her shoulder and she looked away, biting her lip. "Just because you're used to it doesn't mean you have to go through with it,"

"But I can't do it!" Skylar said in a hoarse voice, her eyes burning as tears swam in them, "I don't have the nerve like anyone else in Gryffindor! I'm not confident or brave in any way, shape or form. How am I supposed to skive off a lesson or get a detention when I'm too scared to let my parents down?" She stared at the twins helplessly; a small sob shook her body and she covered her face, leaning back against one of the many shelves.

Fred looked at George, who had put a comforting arm around her shoulder. Evidently, George seemed to be more sensitive and grasping of people's feelings than Fred, who looked rather unsure of what to do as several tears slipped down her cheeks.

"You can do it," George said encouragingly, "Forget about what your parents will think–"

"But–"

"_Forget_ about what your parents will think," George repeated, fixing Skylar with an uncharacteristic stern gaze, "This isn't about them, it's about you. This list isn't to make fun of you in any way. It will – we both promise you – it will make a huge difference."

"Stupid list," Skylar mumbled, rubbing her wet cheeks and sniffing as George released her from their small, yet comforting embrace.

"Listen Miss Harrison," Fred said in a hushed voice, "We've been told rather top secret information that we both believe will help you to break out of your shell as they say,"

"And what exactly is this 'top secret information'?" Her fingers sketched quotation marks through the air and she looked from Fred to George, waiting.

"Well," began George, taking a seat in one of the vacant seats around the table Skylar had been sitting at, "We all know about Umbridge's rather, not at all very helpful, teaching,"

"So, our rule-abiding friend, Hermione Granger, told us about a sort of study group that will be forming in order for us to all pass Defence Against the Dark Art with gusto," Fred continued, also sitting down at the table beside his twin.

"I thought that your futures lay outside the world of academic achievement," said Skylar, who couldn't help but smile.

"They do," confirmed Fred brightly, "But for us, this 'study group' will teach us a lot more than that."

"Meaning?"

"Do you or do you not believe that You-Know-Who has returned?" Fred asked her, eyeing her as he waited for an answer.

"Well yeah I do," Skylar nodded, rather uncertainly, "I mean if Dumbledore says it true then I believe him… I don't particularly want to imagine him being back but…"

"Don't you think that learning real defensive magic will help to protect us from what is inevitability going to happen?" Skylar gulped a little before she nodded and Fred continued, "We're all going to need a little bit of bravery if You-Know-Who's ideas of living is anything to go by."

"So… why are you telling me this?" Skylar asked, perplexed.

"Isn't it obvious?" said Fred.

"We want you to come along and join!" George beamed down at her.

"But–"

"But nothing," Fred interrupted, clasping a hand over Skylar's mouth and winking at her, "You could learn a hex or two."

* * *

"You're actually coming along to this?" Angelina asked for what felt like the hundredth time. "You're not just pulling a prank on me are you?"

"No of course she's not!" Fred exclaimed indignitedly. "Prank pulling is mine and George's occupation,"

"I thought both your occupations were being the biggest pair of prats ever to walk this earth."

Skylar giggled from behind her copy of _Great Wizarding Events of the Twenty-First Century_. She was sat at the Gryffindor table at Lunch before History of Magic alongside Angelina and Alicia, talking to Fred, George, and Lee Jordan about the upcoming Hogsmeade trip where they would be having their meeting with the 'study group'.

"Girls, girls," Lee said in a soothing voice. "Put your handbags away."

"So…" Angelina now turned to Skylar, beaming. "You're really coming along?"

She could feel Fred and George's eyes practically burning into his head as she hesitated for a fraction of a second. "The troublesome twins managed to convince me,"

"How?" asks Alicia, looking gobsmacked.

"Our irresistible charm," George said jovially.

Angelina gave a derisive laugh. "Oh yeah, _that's_ definitely the reason!"

Skylar's mouth twitched into a small smile as she shared a swift glance with the twins before she glanced down at her small wristwatch. "We should get going to History of Magic Lee; Umbridge is apparently inspecting Professor Binns today."

"Ugh," Lee wacked his head painfully against the table, his dreadlocks flying about his head before he got to his feet as if he was heading towards the gallows.

Professor Binns' lessons were, for most students, the perfect time to catch up on sleep. His dry and dreary voice was enough to put anybody to sleep. Skylar however was one student who listened attentively to his long lectures; she loved History of Magic, even if Professor Binns' voice droned on and on like an old record player.

Unfortunately however, when she and Lee entered Classroom 4F that afternoon, they caught sight of Hogwarts's High Inquisitor sitting in one of the far corners of the room, pink clipboard and with a matching quill at the ready. Skylar had a nagging feeling that this particular lesson would not to be enjoyable.

Skylar and Lee immediately took seats as far away from Umbridge as it was humanly possible. Professor Binns, being a ghost, floated, looking indifferent, shrivelled and ancient to the rather unwelcome guest. He began talking about current Wizarding relations between countries. For the first time in Binns' lesson, Skylar was not the only student to be paying attention, scribbling away on pieces of parchment. The entire class were staring at Binns with great interest; even Lee was looking at him, rather than taking his usual afternoon nap on his desk. But Skylar knew that they were only now suddenly interested in Wizarding relations because Umbridge was sat in the room and nobody wanted a single teacher in Hogwarts on probation.

"Bloody hell; is it possible to be any more pinker?"" Lee suddenly exclaimed in a whisper, casting a look over at Umbridge who was rummaging through a pink, sickly floral pattern handbag. "Fred and George told me she has hundreds of plates with kittens on in her office."

Skylar dropped her quill and turned to Lee, looking amused. "Really?" she replied in a hushed giggle. "That's kind of freaky."

Lee grinned. "She's kind of like some crazy 'old cat lady then?"

"I suggest," both Skylar and Lee jumped in their skins at the sickly, simpering voice that belonged to Professor Umbridge. "That you listen to your teacher before I give the both of you a detention this evening," she smiled, her mouth stretching horribly so that her resemblance to a toad increased.

"Sorry Professor Umbridge," Skylar and Lee both murmured, before they hastily returned to listening to Binns' drones.

Suddenly, Skylar remembered something. The list, number two. 'I have never received a detention'. Skylar's hands suddenly became clammy, should she do it? But what if Professor McGonagall found out? Her parents? It felt as though she was having a battle with her mind, as though she had the devil, which resembled the Weasley twins, on one shoulder and on the other had an angel, who resembled herself. She could practically hear George's voice reverberating around her head 'forget about what your parents will think'. But what if they found out? _Forget _about what your parents will think. It's just one detention. It can't be that bad. It's just _one _detention.

Taking a deep breath, Skylar turned to Lee and said in a whisper that no doubt carried across the silent classroom. "She is most definitely a crazy cat lady."

"Detention Miss Harrison!" Umbridge called in a shrill voice. The students in the classroom looked stunned. Lee's jaw could have touched the floor. Even Professor Binns' looked curiously over his thick glasses to peer at Umbridge. "My office, five o'clock."

* * *

Charms was a perfect lesson to have a private chat, it was always loud, either full of explosions, animals squawking, squeaking and squealing, students and sometimes Prfoessor Flitwick being thrown across the classroom along with various objects. Skylar never usually partook in any private conversations for more than five minutes, but she was anxious to tell Fred and George that she had her first ever detention and already she had crossed something from that bloody list.

Today, the classroom was full of the sound of water swooshing as students were expected the perfect the water fountain charm and nothing could interrupt Skylar and the twin's conversation at the back of the classroom.

"Why have you ventured to the back of the classroom?" George asked, drying his robes as Fred had accidentally sent a shield of water at him.

"I come bearing news!" Skylar announced. "Consider number two complete."

"What?" The twins looked astounded. They were staring at Skylar as though she had just expressed a desire to take up hula dancing classes.

"You've got a detention?" Fred gasped.

"Already?"

"What do you mean already?" Skylar's brows furrowed in confusion. "I thought you wanted me to complete this stupid list? It's one down nine to go!"

Fred and George beamed at one another, Skylar was clearly in the right mind set (at the moment anyway) to complete the list.

"Who is your detention with? What did you do?" George asked in a rush.

"I was talking in Binns' class and Umbridge gave me a deten–"

"Umbridge?" George almost bellowed.

Skylar had to quickly cast the water fountain charm to avoid a confrontation with Professor Flitwick. She then turned back to Fred and George, who both looked alarmed, almost worried.

"Why do you look so concerned?" Her arms crossed over her chest and she began to feel regret for making a stupid decision over the incredibly stupid list that two incredibly stupid people came up with. "You wanted me to get a detention. I'm not exactly looking forward to it."

"But you can't get a detention with Umbridge!" George exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"Because her detention are more of a form of torture!" Fred replied.

"Isn't that what detentions are supposed to be?"

"I'm serious Sky," George said genteelly. "Look at our hands."

"I don't see why – _Merlin pants_! What the hell did she do?"

On George's right hand and on Fred's left, words were edged, scarred into their own skin on the back of their hands. _I must not prank_, were written in their own handwriting. Skylar recognised the use of a blood quill immediately and felt as though her heart was in her throat.

"She's using a blood quill in her detentions?" She asked in a small, quavering voice.

Fred and George both nodded and Skylar felt numb.

"But they're banned illegal dark objects! Even having them in procession is enough to give enough a three year sentence in Azkaban! And she's actually used them to discipline students! That's enough for seven years in Azkaban in front of the Wizengamot!" Skylar babbled, she felt as if her stomach was tightening horribly and she suddenly gasped. "What if… what if she uses it on me?"

Fred and George shared a concerned look before Fred spoke up. "Hermione Granger reckons that essence of Murtlap works well to heal them."

Skylar nodded, she knew that Murtlap would work – it helped made fresh skin grow over wounds – but Skylar was more concerned about that the only detention that she has ever received was going to be a literal form of torture and she could no means stop it without receiving another detention which was the very last thing that she wanted to do.

* * *

When the lesson ended, Skylar began to panic. She had no time to go to dinner because of her detention with Umbridge. With the information Fred and George had told her about Umbridge's idea of a detention and disclipine, she would have rather spent her evening cleaning cauldrons in Snape's classroom than head to Umbridge's office. Fred and George had promised her they would be waiting in the common room for her, with the essence of Murtlap and some food for her. But these small comforts didn't make her feel any better as she knocked on Umbridge's office door.

"Come in," said Umbridge in a falsely sweet, sugary voice.

When Skylar entered her office, she had to reframe herself from laughing. The office was exactly how Lee had described it. Each and every surface was draped in various lacy covers and cloths. Vases of dried flowers were placed orderly around the room and on the walls there was a large collection of ornamental plates and each of these plates had a Technicolor kitten, all wearing different sorts of bows around its neck. Skylar thought that being in this room would be torture enough.

"Evening Miss Harrison."

"Evening, Professor Umbridge," Skylar said in her best friendly voice.

Umbridge, in her vividly pink robes that blended sickeningly with the drapes and walls around the room, was smiling a wide smile that made Skylar's stomach lurch.

"Well, sit down Miss Harrison," she was pointing a stubby finger at a small table that was draped in lace, where a blank piece of parchment lay. Skylar sat down in the straight-backed chair, her hands feeling clammy, trying her best not to show just how nervous that she was.

"You're going to be doing lines for me today, Miss Harrison." Skylar nodded, gulping as she leaned down for her bag to collect her quill, as a last final hope. "Not with your quill. You're going to be using a rather special one of mine."

She placed a quill onto the desk. It was black, long and thin with an usual sharp point. Skylar recognised it immediately, she had read about blood quills in her old Defence Against the Dark Arts books. Skylar picked it up with trembling fingers, the quill felt unfriendly and unwelcome in her hands.

"I want you to write, I must not talk during class."

Skylar gulped, she was scared to let the quill even touch the piece of parchment. If only she was brave, she thought as Umbridge stared at Skylar, waiting, if only she could tell Umbridge just how she was going to rot in Azkaban for using illegal objects in her detentions and exactly where she could stuff this quill. But as always, Skylar swallowed her pride and began to write: I must not talk during class.

She let out a loud gasp of pain. The ink came out shiny and crimson. Skylar stared at it for a moment before staring down at the back of her shaking right hand. I must not talk during class was written there, cut into her skin, shining with specks of blood. But then suddenly the skin healed over, though it was slightly red and smooth.

She dared not look at Umbridge because she knew that the toadlike Professor was smiling in a falsely sweet way. Skylar felt the way she did when the Slytherins tormented her, humiliated, inferior. But sadly, Skylar was used to this type of torment and remembered what she had taught herself – be polite and don't let her see you cry.

And so, she continued. She continued to cut her hand open, again and again. She continued to write I must not talk during class in her own blood. The words continued to cut, heal, and cut again until she felt until she felt as though the sharp point of the quill was cutting all the way to her bone.

Darkness had fallen outside hours ago. Skylar was beginning to feel dizzy as her blood spattered across the tablecloth. The back of her hand was stinging painfully. She gritted her teeth as for what felt the millionth time she wrote: I must not talk during class.

"Miss Harrison. Come here."

Skylar got to her feet. The back of her hand was throbbing so painful that Skylar's eyes were watering. She looked down at her hand; the words were now edged into it, still bleeding.

"Hand."

She obliged, extending her hand for Umbridge to take. Not wanting to catch Umbridge's cold and unpleasant eyes, Skylar looked around the office to stare at the ornamental plates where the kittens were. She saw one that looked exactly like Wilfred and she quickly looked away.

"Maybe one more detention will do it."

This time Skylar had no choice but to look down at Umbridge, her eyes wide. "But Professor–"

"I haven't made a good enough impression Miss Harrison," she said, smiling wickedly. "Tomorrow evening. Same time. You may go."

Be polite and don't let her see you cry, Skylar thought to herself as she nodded quickly and grabbed her bag. She left without protest. The school was now completely deserted, looking down at her wristwatch she realised with a jolt that it was one in morning. Fred and George surely had gone to bed by now and she would have to go to sleep, her stomach empty and the back of her hand throbbing.

When Skylar entered the common room however, it was not empty. Fred and George were sleeping on the armchairs in front of the fire, which was slowly burning out. Wilfred was curled up on George's lap. On the table in front of them was a small bowl full of yellowish liquid that she recognised to be the essence of Murtlap, beside it was something wrapped in tissue that she didn't doubt was the food the twins had promised her.

She smiled at their thoughtfulness before genteelly shoving Fred's shoulder.

"Mhmm…" he grumbled, his head lolling to the side before he gave a loud snore.

"Fred…" Skylar said in a hushed voice, shaking his shoulders softly. "Wake up…"

"Five more minutes…" He murmured, he then grabbed Skylar's injured hand and pulling it into his chest, almost making her topple over. Skylar let out an involuntary loud gasp of pain and pulled her hand forcibly away from him, accidentally slapping his face.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped as Fred's eyes opened immediately in alarm. "I didn't mean to hit you! I only meant to wake you up–"

"S'alright Sky," Fred said in tired voice. "Have fun waking up George."

She looked round at George, who was sleeping soundly, Wilfred still very much asleep in his lap. "Can't you wake him up?"

"Alright–"

"Do it quietly though, it's one in the morning."

"One in the morning?" Fred said in an incredulous voice. "How much did that old brat make you write?"

Skylar shrugged, taking a seat upon the floor in front of the fire. She pointed her wand at it and immediately the fire reignited, casting warmth around the common room.

"Wake up you git," Fred was now shaking George. Skylar hoped that he wasn't shaking him too hard so that Wilfred tumbled off of his lap. "Skylar's back."

"What?" George's voice came as a grumble and Skylar turned on her sat upon the floor to flash him a smile. "How was your first detention?"

"Painful," she grimaced, wincing as she brought her hand up for George to inspect. Her eyes were slightly wet from the pain she had been experiencing and she wiped them away hastily.

"Soak your hand in the Murtlap," said Fred. "And here's your dinner! We had to go to the kitchens to get it; George had a bit of a nibble on the cake–"

"You had a nibble on the cake!" George said with a laugh. "And it wasn't a bloody nibble! It was more of a very large bite."

Skylar laughed, getting to her feet and sitting on Fred's now vacant armchair. Fred pushed the bowl towards her and sat down on the arm of her chair. Without a moment's hesitation she placed her bleeding, throbbing hand into the yellowish liquid and her hand experienced a feeling of relief, the pain had vanished and she relaxed in her seat.

"On the bright side," said Fred as Skylar hungrily dung into the turkey sandwich he was offering her, "You've already ticked something off the list!"

Skylar didn't smile, or grin however. She merely nodded her head and sighed.

"It was only one detention Sky," Fred said in an encouraging sort of voice, though it just made Skylar feel as though she wanted to be sick at the thought of the second detention Umbridge had given her for no apparent reason.

"But–But it wasn't! She's given me another one for tomorrow!"

"WHAT?" They roared so loudly and abruptly that the bowl of Murtlap smashed onto the floor, the feeling of relief in her hand vanished and the throbbing returned.

"What the bloody hell did you do to get another detention?" George asked.

"I didn't do anything!" Skylar replied in a small voice. "She just gave me one because she didn't make enough impression on me!"

"What a hag!" Fred said viscously. "She has no right to–"

But Skylar wasn't listening to Fred and George's rants about how much of a hag that Umbridge was. She was thinking about how much trouble that this list was causing. Was this a sign that this list was a stupid decision? In her mind it was, to her it wasn't a coincidence that the very first thing off that stupid list she had completed had resulted in her hand probably permanently scarred.

"Maybe this is a sign," she suddenly said and the twins both looked at her.

"A sign for what?" asks George, raising an eyebrow.

Skylar avoided eye contact with both Fred and George as she crossed her arms over her chest and sniffed. "That this list is a stupid idea! I mean… Don't you think it's a bit odd that the very first thing I complete from the list has ended up with me having a scar on the back of my hand?"

Fred and George shared an exasperated sort of look.

"Don't even think about backing out," said George, fixing Skylar with a stern sort of look.

"I'm not thinking of backing out," Skylar replied, pouting rather childishly.

"Good because every time you say that you're backing out…" said Fred, grinning mischievously, which made Skylar feel rather nervous. "You're going to complete a piece of homework for us."

"I'm not going to do your homework for you!" said Skylar indigently.

"Excellent!" George beamed and Fred gave a cheer which only made Skylar purse her lips in annoyance. "So to prove to us that you're not backing out–"

"You're going to come to the Quidditch pitch with us this Sunday and we can show you how to ride a broom."

"What no!"

"So you're backing then?" said Fred.

"No I'm not backing out!" Skylar exclaimed.

Fred and George shared identical grins and Skylar inwardly groaned. She had fallen right into their trap.

"Perfect!" George said broodily and clapping his hands together.

"I can't wait until the stupid list is over."


	5. Fred and George's Secret Layer

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.**

**AN: Without any further ado, here is the fifth chapter. Thank you for waiting, I rewrote this a few times but now I'm pretty happy with it.**

* * *

It wasn't at all surprising to Skylar that her second was even worse than the first. Umbridge had kept her this time till two in the morning, which meant Skylar had cut and cut into her hand for nine hours. Fred and George had once again stayed in the common room awating her return, they and both Skylar were abashed as to why Umbridge had kept Skylar so long but Skylar thought she knew why. Because to Umbridge Skylar was an easy target.

"You didn't get another detention this time though?" Fred asked, surveying Skylar as she hungrily bit into the sandwich George had given her.

Skylar quickly shook her head, unable to speak as her mouth was full of a ham sandwich.

When in Hogsmeade, Skylar tended to avoid going to pubs. She spent most of her time in the bookshops and in Honeydukes. There were two pubs in Hogsmeade altogether. There was the Three Broomsticks, the most popular of the pubs as it always seemed to be fit to bursting with students and Hogsmeade villagers. Then there was the Hogs Head, a shady looking and altogether not so appealing looking pub that students and villagers avoided. And this was the place where Fred and George Weasley, along with Lee Jordan, were dragging Skylar. They had already reluctantly dragged her into Zonko's Joke Shop where it appeared they had brought every single product on the selves while she was literally glued to Fred's side (he had used a sticking charm on her sleeve to prevent her running off as though she was a child).

The Hogs Head looked even worse inside than it looked on the outside. The room where they now stood was small; it was also very dirty and dingy. The windows were so covered in grime and filth that Skylar could barely see through them. The wooden tables placed around the room looked rough, but the candles that stood on them seemed to brighten the room ever so slightly. The stone floor of the place is so dirty that it looks as though there is not a floor at all, but instead that the building is simply built on open ground. Skylar made a face of disgust and looked up at George who stood beside her.

"This isn't a joke is it?" She asked him as they approached the bar.

"Of course it's not!" George cried indignitedly. "Hermione just wanted the meeting place to be somewhere we couldn't be overheard,"

"So she chose a pub where it's not overcrowded and we could be easily overheard?" Skylar raised an eyebrow and George looked down at her with a hesitant look. "You honestly think that we won't be overheard in this pub?"

"It'll fine," said George airily.

"Hi," Fred greeted the barman. Skylar thought he looked suspiciously familiar; he had long, string-like grey hair and a long beard. Behind the rather dirty lenses of his spectacles were eyes of a brilliant blue. "Could we have… twenty-six Butterbeers, please?"

Skylar had to hide the disgust on her face as the barman began to pass Fred extremely dusty bottles of Butterbeer from under the bar.

"When was the last time they cleaned this place?" She asked George in a whisper.

He shrugged in reply and handed Skylar a bottle of Butterbeer, "Your very first bottle of Butterbeer."

"It's got grime around the edges,"

So, rather reluctantly, Skylar handed Fred two sickles for her first bottle of Butterbeer and sat down on vacant seats between George and Angelina. She picked at the grime around the top of her bottle, not at all impressed that she would be drinking out of it.

"Come here," said George, taking the bottle from her hands and tapping it with his wand, the dust and grime disappeared almost at once. He stuffed his wand into his jacket pocket before hitting the top of the bottle against a table, taking the lid off completely. He winked before he handed it back to Skylar, "enjoy it."

Skylar thought, as she took a swig of the foaming drink.

It was bliss.

"Oh Merlin," she exclaimed in a whisper as she savoured the beautiful taste of butterscotch that was much less sickly, "this is amazing,"

"See what you've missed out on?" Fred grinned, hitting the top of his bottle against hers, "Cheers."

Skylar didn't know where to look; most of the other students were staring at Harry as though he was some sort of peculiar animal in a zoo. She did not want to stare at Harry that would make him uncomfortable, so her eyes danced around to the dirty windows.

"Er," Hermione's voice came out nervous and much higher than Skylar had ever heard her talk. "Well – er – hi,"

Skylar's eyes, along with everyone else in the group, turned their attention to her.

"Well… erm… well, you all know why you're here. Erm…" she cleared her throat as her eyes darted around the others in the group, "Well, Harry here had the idea – I mean," she paused for a moment and Skylar didn't doubt it was because Harry had just glared at her, "_I _had the idea – that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defence Against the Darks Arts – and I mean _really_ study it, not the rubbish that Umbridge is doing with us," Skylar very almost smiled, noticing how Hermione was becoming more confident and she felt admiration for Hermione Granger grow, "because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts,"

"Hear, hear," Anthony Goldstein said with a grin, raising his bottle of Butterbeer.

Hermione seemed to glow before continuing, "Well, I thought it would be good if we, well, took matters into our own hands."

Skylar was beginning to feel that this was more than just a study group and more a rebellion against Umbridge's ridiculous teaching. The part of Skylar that always recoiled at the slightest thought of doing something wrong did as it always had, she began to feel nervous.

"And by that I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just in theory, but doing the real spells–"

"You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL too, though, I bet?" said Michael Corner suddenly, his eyes narrowed and staring at her closely.

"Of course I do," Hermione replied at once, "But… it's a lot more than that, I want to be properly trained in defence because… because…" she took a very long breath, "because Lord Voldemort is back."

Skylar gave a squeal and chocked on her Butterbeer. George snorted with laughter before giving her several hard thumps on the back. Like most witches and wizards, Skylar had grown up to fear saying You-Know-You's name. Her reaction to Hermione saying his name was not the worst however, Neville Longbottom gave a yelp that he had quickly turned into a cough, Terry Boot twitched and Marietta Edgecombe actually shrieked and spilled Butterbeer down her front.

"Well… that's the plan, anyway," Hermione continued as though nothing had really happened. "If you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to–"

"Where's the proof You-Know-Who's back?" asked a blonde Hufflepuff, his tone was rather aggressive and sceptical, Skylar recognised him to be Zacharias Smith, Skylar knew him from all the times he had complained loudly in the library while she had been revising.

"Well, Dumbledore believes it–"

"You mean," said Zacharias, in the same disbelieving tone, "Dumbledore believes him," he inclined his head towards Harry. Skylar could not help but think that Zacharias perhaps did not come to this meeting on his own accord.

"Who are you?" Ron asked, his tone meeting Zacharias', eyebrow raised and arms crossed.

"Zacharias Smith," he replied, mirroring Ron and crossing his arms over his chest, "and I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who's back."

Now Skylar knew the reason Zacharias was really here. She and George shared a disbelieving look in Zacharias' direction and both rolled their eyes.

"Look," Hermione began, she sounding as though she was gritting her teeth, "That's really not what this meeting was supposed to be about–"

"It's okay, Hermione," Harry said suddenly. He looked tense, almost angry. Skylar guessed that it had to do with the fact that it appeared some students were only here to hear what Harry had been through during the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.

"What makes me say You-Know-Who's back?" He challenged, staring Zacharias straight in the face. "I saw him. But Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you didn't believe him, you won't believe me, and I'm not wasting an afternoon trying to convince anyone."

Skylar now looked around the pub, suddenly feeling rather awkward. She narrowed her eyes as she peered around the other customers, they were all silent and Skylar could bet on her wand that they were listening intently to Harry.

"All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric Diggory got killed by You-Know-Who and that you brought Diggory's body back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us details, he didn't tell us exactly how Diggory got murdered, I think we'd all like to know–"

Skylar reframed from letting out a whimper. She didn't want to hear what it was like to watch Cedric Diggory die; he had been a terribly nice person and good friend to Skylar. She looked around at Cho Chang (she had been Cedric's girlfriend at the time of his death) several tears had fallen down her cheeks.

"If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldemort murders someone I can't help you," Harry replied shortly, as though he was trying very hard to control his temper, as he stared very determinedly at Zacharias' face, "I don't want to talk about Cedric Diggory, all right? So if that's what you're here for, you might as well clear out."

Nobody however left their seats. Several people, including Zacharias, switched awkwardly in their seats.

"So," began Hermione, her newfound confidence had seemed to have faded as quickly as it had come, "So… like I was saying… if you want to learn some defence, then we need to work out how we're going to do it, how often we're going to meet and where we're going to–"

"Is it true," a girl interrupted, Skylar was beginning to feel rather annoyed with these constant interruptions, though she was thankful that this time it was Susan Bones and not Zacharias Smith, "that you can produce a Patronus?"

Skylar's eyes widened. A Patronus was what she had dreamed about learning during her seventh year, if Harry taught them how to produce a Patronus… she couldn't even imagine how happy and thankful that she would be.

"Yeah," Harry replied, nodding shortly.

"A corporeal Patronus?"

"Er - you don't know Madam Bones, do you?"

"She's my auntie,' Susan said brightly, "I'm Susan Bones. She told me about your hearing. So – is it really true? You make a stag Patronus?"

Skylar let out a low whistle.

"Yes," said Harry as though it was nothing.

"Blimey, Harry," said Lee, who looked rather impressed and was nodding his head in approval, "I never knew that!"

"Mum told Ron not to spread it around" said Fred, winking at Harry and grinning at Ron, "She said you got enough attention as it was."

"She's not wrong," muttered Harry, Skylar and Angelina along with a few others laughed.

"And did you kill a Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" Terry Boot questioned, "That's what one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was in there last year…"

"When did we have a Basilisk in the castle?" Skylar asked George, alarmed but George waved his hand as though it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

"Er - yeah, I did, yeah,"

"Oh Godric," Skylar muttered, she couldn't help admire Harry's courage. She couldn't help but wish she had as much courage as Harry Potter did.

"And in our first year,' said Neville, looking around at the group, ecstatic, "he saved that Philological Stone–"

"Philosopher's," Skylar and Hermione corrected him, though Skylar murmured it under her breath.

"Yes, that - from You-Know-Who,"

Skylar bit her lip and distracted herself by taking another long sip of Butterbeer.

"And that's not to mention," began Cho Chang, "all the tasks he had to get through in the Triwizard Tournament last year - getting past dragons and merpeople and Acromantula and things…"

Skylar gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of Acromantula's, house spiders were one thing, but spiders the size of her mother's car were another. Though she had to admit, Harry's performance during the Triwizard Tournament was quite remarkable, seeing Harry take on a Hungarian Horntail, and then emerging from the Black Lake surrounded by merpeople, Skylar completely forgot during the tasks that he was only fourteen at the time.

"Look," Harry began and silence fell as everyone stared at him intently, "I …I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be modest or anything, but… I had a lot of help with all that stuff…"

"Not with the dragon, you didn't. That was a seriously cool bit of flying…" said Michael Corner, sounding impressed.

"Yeah well–" Harry began, now looking rather flustered.

"And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors this summer," added Susan Bones.

"No," began Harry, he was sounding as though he was trying his best not to yell, "no, okay, I know I did bits of it without help, but the point I'm trying to make is–"

"Are you trying to weasel out of showing us any of this stuff?" Zacharias asked in a bored drawl. Skylar actually made a noise of annoyance in the back of her throat that sounded more like a growl.

"Here's an idea," said Ron, in a voice that clearly stated he was a second away from throttling Zacharias, "why don't you shut your mouth?"

Skylar reframed from thanking Ron as Zacharias looked embarrassed at being addressed like this.

"Well, we've all turned up to learn from him and now he's telling us he can't really do any of it," said Zacharias.

"He didn't say that!" Piped up Skylar in a small voice, Fred and George both looked at her surprised. Skylar flushed.

"Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" asked George, saving Skylar from her momentary embarrassment as he pulled out a long metal instrument from inside of his Zonko's bags. Skylar's eyes widened as she saw that it looked rather lethal, not exactly something one would clean their ears out with.

"Or any part of your body, really, we're not fussy where we stick this," Fred grinned and Skylar snorted with silent laughter as Zacharias' eyes widened.

"Yes, well," Hermione began, "moving on… the point is, are we all agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?"

Skylar hesitated for a moment before nodding her head and murmuring 'yes' along with the group. Zacharias didn't say anything however; it seemed he was too busy still staring at the metal instrument.

"Right," breathed Hermione, "Well then, the next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's any point in meeting less than once a week–"

"Hang on," cut in Angelina, Skylar think she had an idea what Angelina was about to say "we need to make sure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice,"

"No, nor with ours," said Cho.

"Nor ours," Zacharias said in an irritated sort of voice.

Hermione looked at them, slightly irritated, "I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone. But you know, this is rather important, we're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldemort's Death Eaters–"

"Well said!" Ernie Macmillan chimed, "Personally, I think this is really important, possibly more important than anything else we'll do this year, even with our OWLs coming up!"

Skylar raised an eyebrow as he looked around, as if expecting someone to protest. "I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher on us at this critical period. Obviously, they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells–"

"We think the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts is that she's got some … some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a kind of private army. She thinks he'd mobilise us against the Ministry,"

Skylar was rather shocked by this news. The Ministry were just scared? It made her fears seem almost pathetic. This was her NEWT year and the Ministry were jeopardising it because they were scared of Dumbledore?

"Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has his own private army," said Luna Lovegood in her usual dreamy voice. Skylar looked at Luna amused, she always liked Luna, she had rather eccentric beliefs but she really couldn't care less of what others thought of her. Skylar assumed that this private army was another of Luna's beliefs that her father, the editor of the Quibbler, had found out.

"What?" Harry asked, looking at Luna with great interest.

"Yes, he's got an army of Heliopaths," said Luna, she spoke with a much glummer voice but was still gazing dreamily around.

"No, he hasn't," said Hermione in a rather matter of fact voice.

"Yes, he has," Luna said, her voice dreamy once again.

"What are Heliopaths?" asked Neville, looking rather confused as he looked from Hermione back to Luna.

"They're spirits of fire," explained Luna, her sliver-grey eyes widening to the size of galleons, "great tall flaming creatures that gallop across the ground burning everything in front of–"

"They don't exist, Neville," snapped Hermione.

"I don't think Hermione really agrees with Looney's beliefs," whispered Fred.

"Don't call her Looney," said Skylar, frowning, "she's lovely, she's really–"

"Hem, hem."

Skylar looked around, alarmed, expecting to see a Professor Umbridge, dressed in a hideously pink winter cloak, but instead she saw Ginny Weasley, Fred and George's younger sister, looking rather impatient, Skylar laughed along with several others who had been alarmed by this. "Weren't we trying to decide how often we're going to meet and have defence lessons?"

"Yes," said Hermione, looking thankful, "yes, we were, you're right, Ginny."

"Well, once a week sounds cool," said Lee, shrugging his shoulders.

Angelina's eyes narrowed, "As long as–"

"Yes, yes we know about the Quidditch," said Hermione in an impatient voice, 'Well, the other thing to decide is where we're going to meet…"

The group fell silent. Skylar couldn't think of anywhere that they could practice without arousing suspicion.

"Library?" Katie Bell suggested, though rather uncertainly.

"I can't see Madam Pince being too chuffed with us doing jinxes in the library," said Harry with a laugh, Skylar agreed. Madam Pince would probably hang them by their ankles from the chandler.

"Maybe an unused classroom?" Dean Thomas proposed.

"Yeah," said Ron, his face brightening, "McGonagall might let us have hers, she did when Harry was practising for the Triwizard."

Skylar frowned. She would be very surprised if Professor McGonagall would allow this. Skylar knew that homework and study groups were allowed but she was beginning to feel that this was more than a study or homework group; in fact it seemed to be more rebellious.

"Right, well," said Hermione uncertainly, clearly she was thinking the same thing, "We'll send a message round to everybody when we've got a time and a place for the first meeting."

She produced from her bag a large roll of parchment and a quill. For a moment, she hesitated, looking around at the group.

"I - I think everybody should write their name down, just so we know who was here. But I also think that we all ought to agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you sign, you're agreeing not to tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're up to."

Fred was the first to sign the piece of parchment and wrote his signature with a flourish, he then passed it to George, who passed it to Skylar, who took a deep breath before signing her signature underneath George's.

"I'm glad you told me about this," Skylar said in a whisper to George who was trying to pass Zacharias the piece of parchment (though he seemed to not to want to sign it).

"Er… well… I'm sure Ernie will tell me when the meeting is."

"We're glad you came along," George whispered as he passed the parchment to Angelina instead.

"I – well, we are prefects," Ernie said suddenly, which made Skylar frown, hadn't he been all for this only minutes ago? "And if this list was found… well, I mean to say…you said yourself, if Umbridge finds out–"

"You just said this group was the most important thing you'd do this year," Harry shot back, raising an eyebrow at Ernie.

"I – yes," said Ernie, nervously, "yes, I do believe that, it's just–"

"Ernie, do you really think I'd leave that list lying around?" Hermione said in a voice that dared him to test her, which if anybody knew Hermione Granger, was not something that was advised (unless you were Ron Weasley that was).

"No. No, of course not," shuttered Ernie, "I - yes, of course I'll sign."

"Well, time's ticking on," said Fred suddenly, jumping to his feet. "Skylar, George, and I have business to attend to; we'll be seeing you all later."

"Business?" Skylar asked nervously as Fred and George both dragged her to her feet. Several people, including Lee and Angelina, were eyeing them suspiciously and Skylar didn't blame them, she was the last person they thought that the twins would need to attend 'business' with. The twins both waved cheerfully, and then grabbed their Zonko's bags before linking their arms with a defeated looking Skylar before dragging her out of the pub.

"What business do we have to attend?" she enquired of George, Fred was too busy humming loudly, "And what was that thing you threatened Zacharias with?"

"It is an item of a delicate nature," George replied, grinning, "Something that… well… should never really make hard contact with skin."

"What?" She spluttered as the twins used their linked arms to lift her feet off the ground and swing her through the air like a child, "Where are you taking me?"

"To our secret layer," said Fred in a dark voice. She groaned, knowing that they were not going tell her, but then she realised where they were actually headed, it was the road that led towards the Shrieking Shack.

"Why are we going to the Shrieking Shack?" she asked in a small voice, this was another place in Hogsmeade that she preferred to avoid.

"So nobody can hear you scream," George said, laughing evilly.

"You're not going to kill me are you?" Skylar squeaked, for once actually rather scared of the twins.

"Of course not!" Fred laughed loudly as they reached the fences that surrounded the shack. Skylar gulped as she stared up at the shack's boarded up windows and doors; she remembered hearing all the stories from her father about the hauntings in the shack whilst he had been at school. Fred and George grinned at one another before once again lifting Skylar off her feet and trundling down a small snow-covered hill that led further towards the shack.

"We're not going in there are we?" She shrieked as Fred and George stopped and released their arms from around hers.

"Of course!" Fred beamed, looking back at her to see that she was very slowly backing away, "George, make sure that she doesn't run off,"

"But–" she began to protest but George just grinned at her before grabbing her hips and throwing her over his shoulder. She could not see what exactly Fred was doing but she could hear the sound of wood being thrown and banged aside, "This doesn't look like a kidnapping at all," Skylar muttered, crossing her arms as best she could, staring grumpily at George's back.

"For someone who's getting kidnapped you aren't putting up a good fight," George replied, he was bouncing on the balls of his feet so that Skylar was beginning to feel lightheaded from her head hanging upside down.

"Done," said Fred, there was a final loud bang and the sound of an object landing in snow, "George, if you will take our hostage inside,"

George obliged and walked forward, still carrying Skylar on his shoulder. She moved her head up to see Fred's face, upside down, grinning at her as George walked inside the opening Fred had made through the boarded up door. Fred entered behind them, waved his wand and the boards that he had just blown aside jumped back into place.

From upside down, Skylar peered around the room and saw that it looked like some sort of living area. There were several blood-red moth-eaten sofas and chairs, all with large rips and tears in them. Scattered around the room were broken pieces of furniture: table legs, the doors of cupboards and handles of drawers. The only light within the room came from the brightness of the snow outside from the small cracks in the boards around the windows and doors. It was eerie. The sound of rats reached their ears and Skylar gave a squeak of fear, wrapping her arms around George's torso.

"Are you scared of rats Sky?" he asked, clearly amused. He leaned down so that Skylar's feet touched the ground; she released her arms from around his torso and stood up straight, brushing snow off her jumper.

"Lumos Maxima," she muttered, a ball of light was thrown across the room and stopped beside Fred, illuminating the barely-lit room. Fred and George were both grinning at her, as if waiting for her to say something, "Did somebody used to live here?" She asked, gesturing around to the furniture.

"Probably," said Fred nonchalantly, tapping his wand against his chin, "But what we want to show you is upstairs,"

She nodded and Fred pointed his wand towards a door that she had not seen and blasted it open. It creaked loudly and several spiders scarped. Skylar squealed and stepped backwards onto George's foot.

"Sorry," she murmured, before she and George followed Fred through the door, "Lumos," the ball of light that had been floating in the previous room flew back to her wand's tip. They were walking across a very dark and dusty hallway; the carpet seemed to groan under the weight of feet, as it looked as though nobody had walked over it in years.

Fred walked bravely towards a very old and rickety staircase, "Be careful walking up these, Merlin knows how old the wood is,"

Walking up the stairs felt like an eternity, Skylar's hand was gripping to her wand so tightly that her knuckles were white; her heart was hammering against her chest. They were barely three steps away from the next floor when Skylar's foot went through one of the steps. She screamed as the entire piece of wood broke, already her entire leg had fallen through the hole that had now been made. She swaged dangerously on the spot, shrieking as she feared that if she tumbled backwards now that she would take George down with her.

But suddenly, Fred had thrown his Zonko's bags onto the landing before him and grabbed one of her hands, the other wounding around her waist. He picked her up, her leg sliding easily out of the hole, and then turned her around so she was now finally on firm ground. George's long legs avoided the missing step easily and he and Fred walked up the rest of the steps, breathing rather quickly.

"You okay?" Fred asked Skylar, whose heart was still thundering against her chest.

"Y-Yeah," she stammered, placing her hand over her chest and taking deep breaths, "Thank you Fred,"

"Anytime," he winked as George repaired the missing step with a wave of his wand. "Next time, we'll have to carry you down the stairs,"

Skylar shuddered, she didn't want to think about going back down _those_ stairs, she would rather have Fred throw her out of the window, at least then she could land in the snow.

"Through here," said George, inclining his head towards a door at the very top of the hallway.

Now feeling rather nervous, Skylar stayed close to Fred, not wanting to be the one at the back. George murmured a spell under his breath before he pushed open the door graciously and it creaked as loudly the first door had. But when Skylar's eyes darted around the room, she gasped.

It was unlike the rest of the shack. Instead of ripped, torn and broken furniture, it had been repaired. There were several tables with advanced looking potion sets and ingredients on. Boxes were stacked in corners, all with the labels 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' on them. There was a sofa, which instead of the one downstairs which had been blood-red, this one was a deep purple. A grand looking fireplace stood beside it, along the top of the fireplace were various odd-looking instruments and object, Skylar could see one that looked like a flesh coloured ear.

"What is this place?" She asked them, her eyes wide as she examined at desk where a large cage stood.

"It's where we make most of our products," said Fred, taking off his coat and hanging it up alongside George's on a coat peg beside the door that Skylar had not seen. "We sneak in through a secret passage to Hogsmeade whenever we want,"

"What are these?" Skylar questioned, pointing to the cage where five small pink, purple and blue fluffy looking balls were inside, she suspected they were some sort of animal as the balls appeared to be breathing.

"They're Pygmy Puffs," Fred said brightly, "Miniature Puffskeins, we bred them,"

"They're adorable," Skylar cooed, sticking a finger into the cage and softly stroking a fluffy pink one. It twitched and let out a small squeak that sounded as though it was yawning, which made Skylar let out an 'aw' as all the Pygmy Puffs let out similar squeaks, all now waking up. As soon as their small eyes saw Skylar, they let out squeaks and gathered around her fingers, all nuzzling their bodies against it, "You don't keep them in a cage all the time do you?"

"Of course not!" said George from beside her, "We let them out, they're especially cuddly,"

Skylar removed her finger from inside the cage, the Pygmy Puffs let out squeals of disappointment before squealing again as George opened the cage. They all raced in a multi-coloured line up George's arm until they rested upon his shoulders. A purple one nuzzled itself against George's neck and let out a small squeak.

"That's Aala," said George, stroking the Pygmy Puff lightly so that it let out another small squeal of delight, "She's my Pygmy Puff. That one," he pointed at the only blue one who was jumping up and down on George's shoulder, squeaking and staring widely at Fred, "that's Elfie; he's Fred's Pygmy Puff,"

Fred grinned at Skylar, before holding out his palm in front Elfie, who rushed up his arm and nuzzled against his neck. "That one," he pointed at the other purple Pygmy Puff, who had fallen asleep, "is Wilbur, all he does is sleep… and that one," he pointed at a pink one, "is Kalia… and that one," he pointed towards the last, pink Pygmy Puff who was staring at Skylar with great interest, "is Keiko, she's pretty intelligent for a Pygmy Puff we think,"

Skylar smiled and reached up her hand towards Keiko, who seemed to consider her for a moment before squealing and rushing to nuzzle against her hand.

"She seems to like you," said George, "probably because you're a girl, Keiko isn't very affectionate towards boys. She can be yours if you want,"

Without even hesitating, Skylar nodded and held out her palm as Fred had done, Keiko jumped onto her palm and scurried around for a moment, before she nuzzled into it and let out a whistle sound.

Skylar had sat down on the sofa in front of the now crackling fire, along with the Pygmy Puffs who were all fast asleep beside her. Fred and George were sat around a table, where a potions set stood. Curious, Skylar got to her feet and made her way over to them.

"What are you two doing?" she enquired; she could see a pinkish coloured potion inside the cauldron and raised an eyebrow, love potion. They did not reply, instead Fred smirked and added a rose petal into the potion so that it turned a deeper pink.

She wondered around the room, peering at the different products. She noticed that a section of the room had been devoted to the colour pink; a small sign had been handwritten to read 'WonderWitch Products'. Skylar almost laughed, clearly they were trying to market to girls. She picked up small square bottle with another handwritten label that read 'Calamity Lotion'.

This time Skylar really did laugh.

"Found our love potions then?" Fred called, smirking at her from across the room.

"Why do you have so many?" she asked, placing the Calamity Lotion down and picking up a heart-shaped bottle with label 'Cupid Crystals'.

"A man can never have too many love potions," George replied, striding across the room to stand beside her, "They all have different effects," he explained, picking up a large bottle full of bright pink potion, "this is First Love Beguiling Bubbles, the strongest love potion we have, not as strong as Amortentia but strong nevertheless,"

"What do…" Skylar squinted her eyes at the label; it had been scribbled over several times, "Flirting Fancies do?"

"They make whoever eats them the master of flirtation and seduction," said George with a wink.

Skylar blushed and placed down the box of Flirting Fancies, "How do you and Fred know that these work? You two didn't drink and eat all these did you?"

"Of course not," said Fred, who had by now also crossed the room and stood on her other side, "We got Lee to eat the Flirting Fancies and we were not disappointed with the results. Nor was he for that matter, he got snogged by three different girls in under the space of two free periods. As for the love potions, we slipped them into some of the Hufflepuff's drinks during breakfast, we know enough about potions to know when they're safe to use,"

"Oh, so I'm not here to taste love potions for you then?"

"Well you could try the Kissing Concoction if you want to tick off number nine of the list," Fred said with a smirk that was mirrored by George.

"Thanks for the tempting offer," Skylar rolled her eyes, "but I would prefer my first kiss to be… romantic," she flushed as pink as the love potions and busied herself with picking at her nail varnish.

"Romantic?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow, "you're such a girl."

She let out an exasperated sigh and turned her head to look at the fire, "I mean I want it to be rememberable at least and not regret it."

"You won't regret it if you snogged one of us," Fred encouraged.

"I'm not really looking forward to kissing anyway," Skylar admitted and the twins both looked at her, astonished.

"What? But snogging is great!" said George.

"I bet it is," she replied nonchalantly, "I'm just saying that… I'm just… I don't… I'm just nervous about it. I've never kissed anybody before and what if… what if… I don't know, I'm bad at it or something?"

"It's very hard to be bad at kissing," said Fred, "just practise on the back of your hand like Ron does when he thinks that we're not looking,"

"I'm serious!" she wailed, fixing her eyes back onto Fred and George, her face a bright red, "I'm seventeen years old and haven't been kissed yet, which only makes kissing for myself more nerve raking!"

Fred and George had begun to snigger and Skylar was beginning to feel impatient. She let out a huff, crossing her arms over her chest before walking back to the sofa and sitting down.

"Sorry Sky," chuckled George, dropping into the armchair beside her and grinning. Fred sat down on the armchair opposite, he was also grinning. "Look if you're so worried about kissing, one of us will teach you,"

"But…" she paused for a moment, considering it. But then she was hit with another thought, she didn't want her first kiss to be a _lesson_. She wanted it to be special, or at least with somebody that she would want to kiss. She did find Fred and George incredibly attractive and if they were such experienced kisser it wouldn't be that bad, but this was her first kiss. Something she felt she should be keeping for someone… special.

"You don't have to learn right away," George began, sitting up straighter in his seat and surveying her, "We'll make a deal… if you haven't been kissed by…" he twirled his hand through the air, thinking hard, "February, then one of us will teach you,"

"I'll t-think about it," she stuttered, her face so flushed that it was almost as red as Fred and George's hair. Wilbur gave a loud whistle (which was apparently how he snored) before he rolled onto his back and whistled again.

"Number one will be completed tomorrow," said Fred, leaning his head back on his entwined hands as he stretched, "we'll fetch you after lunch,"

Skylar groaned, she was not looking forward to flying, in fact she had half a mind to take a few of their Skiving Snackboxes and fake sickness. She was however mildly reassured that her first time on a broom would be with two very good flyers, if she would even get on that was.

**Next chapter we'll see Skylar have her very first ride on a broomstick! What do you think will happen?**

**REVIEW!**


	6. Insecurities Her Father Made

**Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter.**

**AN: I have just started at sixth form so I am incredibly busy with homework and getting settled in, so I'm sorry about the time it takes for me to post. I've been trying to finish this chapter all week but I have been busy! But anyhow, here is Chapter 6!**

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"Haven't seen you around recently, Cry Baby."

Skylar's back smacked harshly against the hard wall of the Transfiguration corridor, her head hitting the harsh stone with a sickening _thump_! Lisette, Jessica, and Teresa had somehow managed to track down Skylar shortly after she had left the Great Hall for lunch.

"Word has it that the Weasley twins are acting as your sort of bodyguards," Lisette sneered. Her long nails were digging into the skin around Skylar's wrist, causing her to wince and whimper in pain.

Skylar shook her head frantically, she was making sure not to move her arm so that Lisette's nails didn't scratch further into her skin which was already throbbing painfully. "They're m-my friends!"

"Ohhh friends!" Jessica shrieked, swishing her blonde hair deliberately so that it hit Skylar around the face. "What friends they are! They aren't even here to help you."

She limped away from the scene several minutes later. Her lip was bleeding rather badly, curtesy of Lisette's nails that had scratched her, and she was nursing her lightly bleeding wrist to her chest. She was limping because Teresa had found it prudent to give her a good kick in the shins. Her books were also not in the best shape – Jessica had made sure to rip them all cleanly in half and had 'accidentally' lost most of their pages. But, miraculously, Skylar had managed not to cry in front of them. She had at least managed to hold it in.

Now, she had several injuries to heal and books to mend. It appeared that the Slytherin girls had taken to physically bullying her now. At least it was just Lisette and her cronies, Skylar thought miserably. She shuddered at the thought of one of Malcom's fat knuckles punching her – she would probably be out cold for days.

Skylar sat down on a vacant bench in one of the courtyards and let out a deep sigh. Fred and George were yet to find her so that they could drag her along for her dreaded first time at flying. So far, Skylar felt like she was doing a very good job at hiding from them. She had seen them once today however briefly during breakfast before they were whisked away by Snape for a detention.

Her back still ached from being forced against the wall and her knee throbbed from the harsh contact of Teresa's dolly shoes had made with it. She winced slightly, flexing her leg, but almost immediately ceasing the movement as a sharp pain shot up her leg. Stupid bloody Slytherins.

"You ready for your flying lesson Miss Harrison?"

Fred and George had arrived. Skylar mentally noted that she would have to ask them how on earth they could find her so easily.

"Uhm…" she murmured, looking down at her shoes so they could not see her cut lip. "Can we take a rain check? I have homework to do."

Fred grabbed Skylar under her arms and hoisted her up to her feet. Skylar immediately let out a loud gasp of pain and crumpled to the ground, her knee throbbing madly.

"What happened to you?" Fred asked, carefully trying to lift Skylar to her feet without causing her any further pain. He inspected her cut lip while George poked and prodded her knee.

"Ouch! George!" Skylar hissed, squeezing her eyes shut in pain.

"Sorry," he called cheerily before he withdrew his wand from the pocket of his robes.

Skylar recoiled instantly.

"What?" George asked her, looking rather amused. "I'm going to help soothe the pain and get rid of that bruise. It looks rather painful."

Skylar grimaced. "Oh yes, it's very painful."

George managed to soothe the pain significantly and used a tub of thick yellow paste to help the bruise fade a little, while Fred on the other hand had managed to stop her lip from bleeding by dabbing it with a tissue.

"So how did you hurt yourself exactly?" Fred asked after wrapping a bandage he had conjured around her wrist.

"I was going to say that I walked into a wall but I highly doubt that you would believe me," she tried to laugh but instead she winced as Fred tightened the bandage on her wrist a little too tightly.

"Sorry," he said, his eyes meeting Skylar's before focusing his attention back to her wrist.

"We would have believed you if you told us that you had walked into a wall," said George in a cheerful manner. "But we wouldn't believe you if you told us that the wall had somehow managed to cut your lip, wrist and damage your knee."

"If you must know it was Lisette and those other Slytherin girls," Skylar muttered, careful to not speak too loudly in case any sneaky Slytherins were listening in. "They cornered me after lunch."

"We'll get them back for you," Fred assured her.

Skylar looked at Fred curiously, "What are you going to do to them?"

"Oh you know," George smiled with a far-away look upon his face. "Maybe slip a couple of fainting fancies into their breakfast."

"Or perhaps we should cut of their hair," smirked Fred. "Then they won't be swishing it around all the bloody time."

"Don't do anything to them," Skylar said in a desperate tone that was identical to the look on her face. "They think you two are my bodyguards or something! They'll know it was you and then… then they will come and get me again!"

"They won't," said Fred with a wave of his hand. "If you hit them hard enough."

"Of course I won't hit them!" Skylar shook her head madly, "I'm not going to get chucked into detention for hitting someone! How many times I have told you this?"

Both Fred and George shrugged.

"Well time's a ticking!" said Fred, jumping to his feet, George mimicking his actions a few seconds later.

"You, Skylar, have a date with a broomstick!" said George as once again Fred hooked his arm underneath hers and pulled her to her feet.

"Let's go then Sky!" Fred and George bellowed happily, both of them linking their arms around hers and marching her out down the Transfiguration corridor.

"But I have homework to do–"

"Homework, somwork!" Fred roared as they practically carried her down the marble staircase. "There's no time like the present."

"Fred! George! What on earth are you doing to her?" Angelina Johnson bellowed as they reached the sun-lit entrance hall.

"Nothing!" George said in a not-so convincing tone of innocence as he and Fred wheeled her about. Angelina looked torn between amusement and annoyance at the sight of Skylar being dragged around by the her Beaters.

"Help me!" Skylar squeaked.

"What are you going to do to her?" Angelina asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

"We're going to take her on her very first ride on a broomstick!" Fred hollered back, his tone was as light and cheerful as the smile on his face.

"Oh right," said Angelina as she turned back round to Katie and Alicia, who were both giggling. "Have fun!"

So, reluctantly, Skylar let Fred and George Weasley drag her down the lawns, which were rather muddy from the recent downpours of rain, and towards the Quidditch pitch. They reached what Skylar presumed were the Gryffindor changing rooms and they threw her down onto one of the benches.

"Right," George said, clapping his hands together and beaming. "We're going to teach you how to fly!"

She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed rather loudly. But this obvious disprovable and discomfort from Skylar seemed to make Fred and George's identical grins grow wider.

"She's a stubborn one isn't she Fred?"

"Couldn't of said it better myself George."

"Can you stop doing that?" Skylar asked them.

"Doing what?" They chorused.

Skylar raised an eyebrow; she always found it rather endearing how Fred and George seemed to be able to read one another's thoughts. The way their sentences flowed so easily between them always fascinated her, though she would never admit that to them.

"Doing that!" She guested between the two of them. "Finishing each other's sentences like it's your job – it's intimidating!"

Fred's grin turned into a smirk and he nodded at George, who gave him an identical smirk and walked over to nearby broom cupboard. He flicked his wand and the door flew open, and pulled out two identical broomsticks. Skylar glared at them as though it was their fault that she was being pressured into flying – which in fact it _was_.

"Cheer up!" Fred barked brightly. "Flying feels great, I'm sure you'll love it!"

"B-but there's only two broomsticks!" she said in a high voice that was quite unlike her own.

"Do you really think we're going to put you on a broomstick by yourself on your own the first time flying?" George asked her incredulously.

Skylar shrugged, she really did think that they were just going to chuck her on a broomstick and watch her make a fool of herself.

Fred grinned, "Well since we're such gentlemen we decided that one of us should fly with you."

She didn't much like the idea of sharing a broomstick with one of the Weasley twins for various reasons. A) she knew that they were both superb flyers but that didn't mean that they could turn to quickly and 'accidentally' send her falling fifty feet from the ground and, b) they probably only thought of this simply to attempt to hit on her.

"I-I don't know…" she said skeptically and the twins both rolled their eyes in exasperation. "I mean those broomsticks don't look exactly… built for two do they?"

"I'm sure you can squeeze on one of our laps," George winked.

"No!" Skylar squeaked and brought her knees to her chest.

"Just a little joke Sky," Fred chortled. "You're pretty small, I'm sure there would be enough room for you."

"Why am I doing this again?" Skylar groaned, putting her hands over her face and pulling slightly on her hair. She felt both twins sit on each side of her.

"Because, it will make you feel better," said Fred in a slightly less joking voice, though he was still grinning from ear to ear.

Skylar removed her hand over her face to stare between the two redheads.

"And think about it! If you get this off your list then maybe you'll feel more confident about completing the others!" George reasoned. "Next thing you know you'll be in broom cupboards all over Hogwarts, indulging in all sorts of sexual endeavours–"

"Is that where people do it?" Skylar shrieked.

Fred and George both nodded.

"Especially Lee," Fred added. "I think he should have a broom cupboard named after him."

Skylar shuddered. She didn't want to even imagine Lee Jordan's sexual endeavours – she had heard far too many stories about Lee's certain… fantasies.

"But really Sky," Fred continued, "By the time we have graduated from this place, the Slytherins will be too scared to even look at you."

She really couldn't see the logic in where flying a broomstick with one of Hogwarts's most notorious pranksters would make her feel any better about standing up for herself, but then she remembered that logic and the Weasley twins never really crossed paths. She could say yes and it would be all over and done with. She could say no, but they would probably throw her on a broom anyway, they were after all brilliant Beaters and to them, picking up a just under average height, seventeen year old girl and putting her on a broomstick would be as easy as blowing up a toilet. Either way, she knew that they'd put her on a broom somehow.

"Okay!" She exclaimed and Fred and George both cheered. "But don't make fun of me if–"

"You get scared?" Fred smirked and Skylar looked down at her shoes. "Don't worry, if the worst happens and you do fall off–" Skylar looked up at him, alarmed as he said this, "–one of us will just catch you,"

"So," George said briskly, clapping his hands together, "who do you want to fly with?"

Skylar looked from Fred, then to George. She really hadn't thought about that.

"Erm," she said, rather awkwardly, "I don't know…"

"She wants to fly with me," said George, flexing his arms and smiling, "I'm the better looking one,"

"You're identical twins," Skylar pointed out but George ignored her and turned to Fred.

"Any ideas how we're going to settle this matter Fred?" he asked.

Fred pretended to think, Skylar knew that he was pretending because she didn't think she had ever seen Fred think in his life, "A nice, friendly, Muggle game of rock, paper, scissors might do the trick."

"Best out of three?"

In the end, Fred had beaten George. He grinned down at Skylar as they exited the changing rooms and walked towards the Quidditch pitch. Skylar had only seen the Quidditch pitch from the safety of the stands and how to admit that looking around from the player's perspective, it looked very impressive. She couldn't imagine walking out onto the pitch in front of the entire school, as the pitch looked a lot larger and longer and _much_ more intimidating.

Fred mounted his broom first and Skylar stood, looking rather awkward, beside him.

"Well then, hop on," Fred encouraged.

"Where though?" she asked in a small voice, her eyes following George who was zooming around above them already on his broomstick.

"Well, you could hop on the back…" said Fred thoughtfully, "but you could fall off more easily then–" Skylar gulped as he continued, "–it would probably be best to sit in front of me, that way you can hold the broom too,"

"Erm," Skylar said, still her eyes following George who was doing a couple of loop-the-loops, "I-I still don't know–"

Fred let out a sigh of exasperation, grabbed Skylar around the waist, hoisted her feet from the ground and placed her on the broom in front of him. She immediately grabbed onto the broom handle before her, her arms already shaking. The feeling of being up in the air without any real means of safety unnerved her.

"There!" said Fred, he wound one around her waist and the other to hold onto the broom handle. Skylar flushed, even more feeling incredibly nervous as she could feel Fred's chest against her back, "was that so hard?"

She felt herself blushing at how close he was to her as she said, "N-no,"

"I'm going to kick off the ground, are you ready?" he asked cautiously.

"No!" she squeaked, her knuckles turning white from how tightly she was gripping the broom's handle. "Just count down from five!"

Fred laughed, "Alright then… five… four…" she breathed in and out slowly as Fred counted down, "three…" but suddenly, without warning, he kicked off, hard from the ground and Skylar almost lost her grip as they soared high into the air.

She screamed as Fred put on a burst of speed to reach his brother, who was laughing loudly.

"Having fun there Sky?" he asked as Fred stopped abruptly in mid-air beside George.

Skylar shook her head and tentatively looked back down at the ground. She screamed again and covered her hands over her face. Fred's broomstick gave a dangerous wobble.

"Wow there Skylar!" George said warningly, flying slowing closer to them to pat her on the back. "Its fine, you're completely safe."

She didn't want to move her hands from over her face because she felt her eyes burning as tears swam in them. If there was one thing that Skylar Harrison feared more than disappointing her parents, more than failing an exam or the idea of intimacy, it was heights, which was probably the reason why Skylar was so reluctant to fly in the first place.

"C-Can we please get off?" She squeaked, her voice mumbled as her hand was still covering her face.

There can no reply, instead, one of the twins gently grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face.

"Are you crying?" George asked.

Skylar shook her head but as she had nowhere to look but straight ahead (she wouldn't dream of looking back down at the ground) and she couldn't hide her tear filled eyes from the twins.

"A-Are you going to l-laugh and c-call me C-Cry Baby?" she hiccupped.

"No!" Fred proclaimed.

"I-I'm such a w-wuss!" she exclaimed, "I just d-don't like h-heights!"

"Skylar, its fine," said Fred, "Ginny used to be scared of heights, but we taught her how to fly–"

"And w-why aren't you m-making fun of m-me for crying?" she whimpered, rubbing her eyes furiously.

"We find your innocence rather endearing," said George, "and we really can't stand to see you get bullied by those blubbering idiots that are, most unfortunately, part of the same species as us,"

Skylar gave a shaky laugh.

"Just trust us," said Fred.

"N-no, I want to get down!" she burst out, returning her grip to around Fred's broom handle and trying, but to no avail, to bring them towards the ground. The broom gave a lurch and Fred had to grip to its handle to stop Skylar from trying again and risk them both being flung off his broom.

"Skylar we're just trying to–"

"Let me down please!" She sobbed, "I-I can't do this! I'm too much of a coward!" Her hands that were clasped tightly around Fred's broom handle which shook rather violently.

"Sky just trust–"

"No!" She shrieked, her voice shook as her eyes stung once again and a lump formed in her throat, "I-I want to get o-off!"

She heard Fred and George both sigh before she suddenly felt herself and Fred descending, very slowly and rather cautiously. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the broom handle even tighter, if that were even possible.

When she was finally a foot of the ground, Skylar almost fell over in her hast to get her feet back on the grass. She swayed ominously on the spot as Fred and George both dismounted their brooms, much more gracefully than she had.

"Steady on," Fred grunted, shouldering his broom and grabbing her arm to help keep her from falling over. "We're sorry we made you get on the broom."

"N-No it's fine," Skylar shook her head quickly and wiping her eyes. "It's over and done with now. And anyway," she turned to face them, smiling a little. "Two down–"

"–Eight to go," Fred and George finished.

Fred and George both put their broomsticks back into the cupboard. Skylar sat down on one of the benches, humming as she rummaged through her school bag.

"So, why didn't you tell us that you were afraid of heights?" George called over the noise of the broom cupboard door being slammed shut.

"Huh?" she murmured, resting her chin against her palm absently. "Oh, erm – it never came up in conversation?" She said with uncertainty.

"You didn't even think to mention to us you were scared of heights when we were planning to take you about fifty feet into the air on a broom?" Fred's arms folded across his chest, the corners of his lips were curling into a smile.

"Must have slipped her mind Fred," said George with an amused glance at Skylar's raised eyebrows.

"It didn't slip my mind," she scoffed, "I just thought – rather stupidly – that I would just forget about the heights once I was in the air… foolish right?"

"No, I understand. But that's only because I'm a Quidditch player," said Fred, sitting down beside Skylar and stretching his legs out before him, "Once you get on a broom you _do _forget about the height. But I suppose because it was your first time you couldn't really do that."

"If you don't mind me asking, but why are you scared of heights?" George enquired; he was now sitting on her other side.

"Oh uhm," Skylar was blushing slightly, "Well it started because when I was around… eight or nine, my father magically built this treehouse in our garden and it was really high up. I'm not kidding, if he had built that without magic, I highly doubt that it would be safe to use. But anyway, one day I was in the treehouse – colouring I think – and Lewis came up. You see, me and Lewis always used to fight. Still do in fact. But it was a lot worse when we were younger. And so, he climbed up the ladder with some of his friends and told me to go away. I told him that I was there first. And then one of his friends grabbed me and literally dangled me over the decking around the treehouse. It was terrifying, especially since it was about a twelve-foot drop. I didn't fall off, thankfully. My father had put magical protections in case one of us did fall off. But all the same, seeing the ground so far away unnerved me a great deal."

Fred and George didn't say anything. They simply nodded.

"What are you both afraid of?"

The question rather surprised both Fred and George. They had identical looks of surprise on their face as they stared hard at Skylar.

"Why do you want to know what we're afraid of?" Fred asked her slowly.

"It's only fair," she shrugged. "I told you what I'm scared of…"

"We're not telling you!" said Fred, his familiar smirk curling his lips. "We are both far too macho."

"Oh I'm sure," Skylar mumbled, her eyes moving back to her bag where she continued to leaf through it.

"Skylar, can we ask you something?" Fred asked, watching her closely.

"Sure," she replied distractedly, "Feel free."

There was a pregnant pause. Skylar knew that the twins were sending one another looks over her head. "Why are you so scared to let down your parents?" George finally asked.

Skylar froze. Her hand still deep in her bag.

"Why do you ask?"

Fred and George both shrugged in reply. "Just curious really," said Fred.

She dropped her bag to the floor and leaned back against the wall, her bottom lip between her teeth as she chewed on her next words.

"Well, put yourself in my shoes. My father is the most famous Healer in St. Mungo's. He got eleven Outstandings in his OWLs and eight in his NEWTs. From my first day at Hogwarts I was hit with these tidal waves of comments like 'oh, when Edgar was here he was a born Potions marker' – and – 'when Edgar was here, he _always_ studied until steam was coming out of his ears'. I always looked up to my father because, well, he _is _brilliant. Head Boy for Ravenclaw, he received an award for Special Services to the School _and _he got one of his essays published simply because it was _that _good. Even my mother was brilliant at school – bearing in mind she's a Muggle – she's an Art & Design professor at a Muggle University as well as a self-employed Artist. She has one of her paintings hanging in the Art Museum near our house for Merlin's sake! And when I got my letter from Hogwarts my father had _never_ looked so proud of me. And I liked it because it took a lot to make my father proud. He kept saying 'you'll be great in Ravenclaw'. But then when we got sorted and I was placed into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw, I…I just got the feeling that he wasn't proud of me, even in his and my mother's letters. So I wanted to make up for it by showing him that I could be in Gryffindor and get the grades that Ravenclaws got. And I did. But the feeling of even thinking that I let them down made me completely powerless because I couldn't just demand the Sorting Hat to change its mind," she ran her fingers through her hair and then rapped them against her knee, "that's kind of the reason I don't want to let them down again. Ever."

Another loud silence followed this. Fred and George seemed to be digesting her words while Skylar fixed her attention on what appeared to be the Gryffindor Quidditch team's robes hanging up on several pegs.

"Edgar Louis Harrison is your father?" Fred finally asked her, his eyes wide.

Skylar very nearly scowled at him.

"I'm sorry," Fred muttered, rubbing his shoulder where George had just flicked him. "It's just… that _is_ an awful lot to live up to."

"I know," Skylar sighed as she fiddled with her fingers. "Don't get me wrong I love my father but he is just one of those people who you don't want to let down."

"If it makes you feel any better we let down our mother and father a lot," said George with a sad sort of grin. "See we have three older brothers. Bill was a prefect, he was Head Boy and now he's working for Gringotts Bank as a Curse Breaker."

"And then there's Charlie," said Fred. "He was also a prefect – never Head Boy – but he was Quidditch Captain. And now he's studying dragons in Romania."

"Dragons?" Skylar repeated in an awed voice.

"Yeah-uh," Fred replied distractedly. "Dragons."

"And then we have," George stopped so that he could scowl menacingly. "Percy."

"He was a prefect and Head Boy wasn't he?" said Skylar, remembering the old red-headed prefect who had often helped her with her homework during her OWL year. He was a complete polar opposite of Fred and George Weasley – it was so hard to believe that they were related, sometimes Skylar had forgotten.

"Course," Fred muttered. "Bloody git. He works for the Ministry of Magic now. Junior Assistant to the Minister for Magic himself."

"And now he doesn't even talk to us," said George darkly. "He chose work over his family."

"That… that's horrible," Skylar said in a small voice.

And then you have us… we're just a pair of troublemakers. We got three OWLs each. We weren't even in the running to become perfects – not that we would want to." Fred added as an afterthought and George nodded in agreement. "But you see, we have all these amazingly smart, ambitious elder brothers that our parents are oh so proud of. But us… it's like what have we got for them to be proud of?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Skylar looked from Fred to George with a comforting expression. "The stuff that you two make is… is… well its ingenious! Some of the spells, potions and charms you use are far beyond NEWTs. You don't give yourselves enough credit."

"Never thought that I would see the day that Skylar Adella Harrison pays us a compliment," George beamed.

Skylar flushed as rain began to hit the high windows of the changing rooms. "It's true. You two are smart. You just exercise your cleverness into other things…"

"We're touched Sky," said Fred, his hands resting upon his chest in a dramatic sort of way that made her giggle.

"Shut up, I was being serious!" she laughed, pushing Fred's shoulder so that he tumbled off the bench and onto the floor. Both Fred and George burst in peals of laughter as Skylar shrieked, "oh gosh Fred! I am so sorry!"

"Its fine!" He chuckled, accepting the hand Skylar had offered to help him to his feet. But instead of her pulling him up, he had pulled her down so that she landed on the floor which made the twins laughter only double. She scowled at Fred who lay beside her, howling with laughter. A smile began to dance along her lips and before she knew it, her laughter had joined Fred and George's. For the first time in her life, she was not worrying about her parents or the homework she had not completed. She was simply enjoying herself. Feeling like the carefree teenager she ought to be.

* * *

Skylar woke up the next day, much earlier than usual though still feeling relaxed and well-rested. Angelina and Alicia were still tucked up in their blankets, Alicia snoring lightly and Angelina murmuring Quidditch tactics under her breath. Skylar stretched and quickly got dressed, falling several times due to her struggling to get into her tights.

She descended the stairs to the Gryffindor common room to see that Fred and George also there, surrounding the noticeboard.

"Morning," she yawned, tapping George's back and then Fred's. They turned so abruptly that she very nearly fell over again. They both looked rather worried about something. "What's wrong? Has Hermione confiscated one of your products?"

"No," Fred's laugh sounded rather odd and Skylar looked curiously between the twins. She felt as though she was missing something.

"Okay…" she turned, to go and do her usual check of the noticeboard but suddenly Fred had grabbed her.

"Don't look at it!"

"Why not?" she asked, perplexed. "I always check the noticeboard," she huffed, successfully managing to push Fred's arm out of the way to approach the noticeboard.

She had actually let out a shriek as she saw large sign had been pinned on overnight. It read:

_BY ORDER OF THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS_

_All student organisations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded._

_An organisation, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students._

_Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge)._

_No student organisation, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor._

_Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organisation, society, team, group or club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled._

_The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-four._

_Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor_

Her mouth seemed to have gone dry as she read the large black letters. _Expelled_?! It was not a mere coincidence that had this 'Educational Decree' was made. Umbridge knew. Skylar would not have been surprised if Umbridge herself had been in the Hogs Head, perhaps hiding behind the bar or under a table – she was short enough anyway.

"Oh no," Skylar shook her head, her entire body almost feeling numb from shock. "Oh no, no, no! I am _not_ getting expelled!"

"Skylar just calm down for a minute…" Fred said in his best attempt at a soothing voice.

"Calm down?" Skylar repeated in an incredibly high-pitched voice that was sure to shatter several windows. "How am _I _supposed to calm down when I am at risk of getting _expelled_? Oh Merlin. What would my father say?" She took a few steps back from the noticeboard and sank down into a nearby armchair, her face pale. "Why don't I just dig myself an early grave and be done with it?"

"Sky you won't get expelled–" George began but Skylar had cut across him.

"Oh really? Because the Education Decree says otherwise," she frowned deeply and rested back further into the armchair. "I knew we would have been easily overheard in that pub! What am I going to do?"

"Well first, we're going to breakfast," said George, looping his arm through hers, Fred's then following suit. Together they dragged her through the portrait hole and down the grand staircase like they had done on their journey to the Quidditch pitch only yesterday.

"I don't enjoy being man handled like this," Skylar complained as Fred and George missed the last step to land rather dangerously in the entrance hall. "I could have broken my leg!"

"But you didn't and that is all that matters," replied Fred before they jostled her along into the Great Hall where students all around seemed to be buzzing about the Educational Decree.

"If they continue it then I'm definitely still going along," said Fred in a whisper as he poured himself some pumpkin juice. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"You could get expelled," Skylar mused, her tone as gloomy as her expression. "I for one am not going to get expelled. I don't want to be kicked out for that bloody study grou–"

"Keep your voice down!" Fred warned her, clamping his hands over her mouth as he and George stared widely around the House tables.

"We're still going along with it," George told her dismissively as Skylar stared at him, her skin turning white in the space of a millisecond. "And don't even think for a second about backing out!"

"But in case you do," Fred began with a wishful smile. "I have an essay Muffling Charms that has proven to be most difficult."

"This is your NEWT year Sky," George grinned, tapping her on the nose causing her to scowl at him. "How will you pass your practical for Defence Against the Dark Art exam without practising the spells beforehand?"

Skylar bit her lip but did not reply.

"And," said Fred, slinging an arm over her shoulder and grinning widely at her, "Harry could teach you how to do the Patronus Charm which has been, we all know, your dream since our very first year at Hogwarts."

"You know you want to Sky," George said watching Skylar as she stirred her porridge, deep in thought. "Think about the eight Oustandings NEWTs you so deserve,"

"Harry may not even want to continue with it!" She said after a few moments, trying to keep the hopefulness in her voice to a bare minimum.

They did not question her further after that. Instead they turned to the subject of the list. Fred was adamant that Skylar should next complete number nine and snog the next person who talks to her (she plainly refused this) while George thought that she should skip Charms so number seven would be completed (she also refused this).

"I'm not skipping Charms!" Skylar exclaimed in a whisper before asking Katie Bell to pass her some toast.

"Well what lesson are you going to skip then?" George asked her with a raised crimson eyebrow, "Because you are going to have to skip a lesson to complete the list."

"I've completed two things from that list in under a week–"

"Which is all more of a reason to complete more!" Fred reasoned.

"I'm not skipping a lesson until I find it prudent," she spoke in a manner that plainly told Fred to shut up, her butter knife pointed almost threateningly at him.

"Morning Weasleys." Roger Davies greeted the twins, high fiving both Fred and George with his trademark smile on his face.

Roger Davies was, from Skylar's knowledge, a good friend to both Fred and George. Though he was the Ravenclaw Quidditch team Captain, the twins and Roger had seemed to be good friends since their first year at school, there seemed to be no rivalry between them due to their teams. Roger Davies was also smart – not very surprising since he was indeed a Ravenclaw. He was also very good-looking – soft brown hair that was carelessly messy, but yet so flawless, dark green eyes that were enough to make any girl blush. Every year at Hogwarts a 'Hot List' was posted by anonymous pupils and Roger Davies always took first prize.

"Morning Davies," Fred grinned. "What brings you to this side of the hall?"

"That Educational Decree," Roger scowled darkly. "It didn't just mean groups like the bloody Potions club or whatever. They meant teams too! Quidditch teams!"

Fred and George's faces paled instantly.

"Quidditch teams?!" George looked aghast. "You… you can't be serious!"

"I wouldn't lie about this sort of thing," Roger frowned. "We have to go directly to Umbridge and ask her to re-form the teams!"

"Angelina is going to murder someone," George breathed, closing his eyes as though to rid the image of Angelina's furious face (which was everybody's worst nightmare). "Oh Merlin. This sucks."

"Do you know if she's awake yet Sky?" Fred asked her.

Skylar felt Roger's eye on her and immediately felt awkward and rather flustered. Though she now spent her days alongside the Weasley twins, Skylar was still incredibly shy when it came to talking to guys. Especially boys like Roger Davies. She felt herself blushing as she met Fred's eyes, determinedly not looking at Number One on Hogwarts' Hot List.

"She was asleep when I left the dormitory," she told Fred in a voice that sounded almost too normal. Her gaze immediately returned to her porridge.

"Shy one isn't she?" Roger snorted which only made Skylar's blush grow a deeper red. "I'll see you both later."

As she stirred her porridge nonchalantly, Skylar could practically feel Fred and George's eyes burning into the top of her head. Tentatively, she peered up at them. They were grinning at her.

"What?"

"You like Roger don't you?" they said together in almost terrifying synchronisation.

"No!" she said in a squeak. "I just… I just–"

"C'mon Sky," Fred beamed. "We could get you two together in no time! Get number eight and nine done in a flash–"

"I don't know how to talk to boys, okay?"

George frowned, "But you talk to us. You talk to Lee."

"I've spoken to you guys every day since the first day at Hogwarts. I'm used to you but guys like Roger I-I just get nervous around them," she covered her blushing cheeks by fiddling with the end of her hair. "I'm just really shy like – Harry's here!"

The twins stood up immediately, Fred grabbing Skylar's arm in the process and very nearly knocking over her cup of tea. Not only did Fred and George make their way over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and Ginny Weasley had also rushed to their feet.

"Did you see it?" Dean asked Ron.

"D'you reckon she knows?" Fred asked Hermione.

"What are we going to do?" Ginny asked Harry.

Skylar and the others all looked at Harry expectantly, waiting for him to speak. Harry peered around the Great Hall and Skylar was sure he was checking if there were any teachers nearby.

"We're going to do it anyway, of course," Harry replied in a whisper.

"Knew you'd say that," George beamed, thumping Harry on the arm as Fred did the same to Skylar.

"The prefects as well?" Fred asked, raising an eyebrow and looking from Ron to Hermione.

"Of course," Hermione replied, her tone silencing Fred's skeptical look.

"Here come Ernie and Hannah Abbott," announced Ron, after glancing over his shoulder. "And those Ravenclaw blokes and Smith… and no one looks very spotty."

"Never mind spots!" Hermione hissed frantically, "the idiots can't come over here now, it'll look really suspicious - sit down!" she mouthed to Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, moving her arms desperately around in the air as though attempting to fly. "Later! We'll –talk – to – you – later!"

"I'll tell Michael," said Ginny, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly as she rushed towards the Ravenclaw table, "the fool, honestly…"

"Did she mean Michael Corner?" George enquired of Fred and Skylar as they returned to their breakfast. "And why was she blushing?"

Fred shrugged but Skylar let out a quiet giggle that didn't go unnoticed by neither of the pranksters.

"What?" Fred asked her suspiciously.

"Oh don't tell me you don't _know_," Skylar said incredulously. "Everyone else knows about it!"

"About what?" said Fred impatiently, eyeing Skylar with curiosity.

"Ginny and Michael…"she said, looking from Fred, to George, and back again – they still appeared to be none the wiser. "They're going out… didn't anyone tell you?"

"What?!" George roared, his and Fred's entire bodies turning to glare at the back of Michael Corner's head as he spoke in hushed whispers to Ginny. "But he's a git!"

Skylar rolled her eyes before taking a sip of her tea. "Of course you'd think that your sister's boyfriend was a git."

Skylar did not skive off Charms that afternoon but it had appeared George had. Fred had told her that he had tested out some of the Fever Fudge. When she had asked what Fever Fudge did, Fred looked a little disgruntled.

"Well it gives you a high fever obviously," Fred stated as he waved his wand, a perfect fountain of water jetting out of its tip. "But they give you this pus-filled boils all over your… well," Fred grinned at Skylar and wiggled his eyebrow, "In a rather sensitive area."

"Where's tha – oh," she flushed, "Try Murtlap Essence."

"I'm going to get my peni–"

Skylar silenced him by covering his mouth with her hands, her face bright red as Fred grinned helplessly.

"So Sky, are you still coming along to our little 'bloody study group' as you so like to call it?"

Skylar frowned, still concentrating on the fountain of water spurting from the end of her wand. "Well… if it _does_ help with my Defence Against the Dark Arts grade then I… I suppose I could… tag along."

"Brilliant!"

Skylar wrinkled her nose at Fred. "But if I get expelled you _and_ George are going to have to explain to my father that it was all your fault."

Fred didn't look at all discouraged. On the contrary, he grinned widely and said, "I'm sure your father, myself and George would get on quite nicely."

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